Carbs and Alzheimer’s

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iAMsmiling
iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Reserving judgement. Just thought others might like to see this.


http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/20121018study-ties-diets-alzheimers-heavy-carbs.html

Replies

  • sarahthecamper
    sarahthecamper Posts: 45 Member
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    Wow. Very interesting. Doing what I can to avoid MCI or Alzheimer's is at the forefront of my mind lately, so thanks. Yet another reason to limit carbs.
  • beansprouts
    beansprouts Posts: 410 Member
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    Thanks for posting.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    Of course, you can't really draw any conclusions here, since it's a correlational study, diet intake was self-reported, and it measured MCI and not Alzheimer's, but this is certainly something that warrants further research.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    Rock is correct. This is not a controlled study therefore only correlation has been established. They can't be certain that the participants accurately reported what they ate... (especially if impaired cognitive function had previously been established, jus' sayin').
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
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    Been lowering my carbs in any case, because it's the only way I can get enough food and stay under my calorie goals and I'm in the gym 5 days a week.
    So...nothing for me to change really, even if I were to take the study as gospel.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    (especially if impaired cognitive function had previously been established, jus' sayin').

    ^ That's a good point.

    "What did you eat this week Bob?"

    "HIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lampshade and school bus. My ear itches. You look nice"
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    People like carbs! It's easy to establish correlation between carbs and pretty much anything. I could take a survey of 100 people and establish that 90 of those 100 eat carb-heavy diets, then establish that 80 of those 90 have broken bones at some point in their lives... now all of the sudden it looks like carb-heavy diets are associated with weak bones (correlation to calcium depletion and ultimately osteoperosis). Studies like this can be manipulated to create whatever correlation the researcher wants.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    (especially if impaired cognitive function had previously been established, jus' sayin').

    ^ That's a good point.

    "What did you eat this week Bob?"

    "HIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lampshade and school bus. My ear itches. You look nice"

    Ha, almost spit my coffee out.

    And that was an excellent point. This study is worthless.
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
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    People like carbs! It's easy to establish correlation between carbs and pretty much anything. I could take a survey of 100 people and establish that 90 of those 100 eat carb-heavy diets, then establish that 80 of those 90 have broken bones at some point in their lives... now all of the sudden it looks like carb-heavy diets are associated with weak bones (correlation to calcium depletion and ultimately osteoperosis). Studies like this can be manipulated to create whatever correlation the researcher wants.

    Oh sure, be all smart and stuff.... :bigsmile:
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    People like carbs! It's easy to establish correlation between carbs and pretty much anything. I could take a survey of 100 people and establish that 90 of those 100 eat carb-heavy diets, then establish that 80 of those 90 have broken bones at some point in their lives... now all of the sudden it looks like carb-heavy diets are associated with weak bones (correlation to calcium depletion and ultimately osteoperosis). Studies like this can be manipulated to create whatever correlation the researcher wants.

    Saves the forums. :drinker:
  • Overboard_Eater
    Overboard_Eater Posts: 105 Member
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    They should study it though. Here is a similar story;
    http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/bittman-is-alzheimers-type-3-diabetes/
  • tkcasta
    tkcasta Posts: 405 Member
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    I want to see the actual study, and I also want to see how carbs affect brain plaques. Oh wait, you can't because you can't ACTUALLY diagnose alzheimer's until an autopsy is performed and therefore can't scientifically prove that carbs increase the possibility unless you overload a person, kill them and then autopsy their brains. I don't think that'll get approval.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    you can't because you can't ACTUALLY diagnose alzheimer's until an autopsy is performed

    Really ?

    http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Alzheimers-disease/Pages/Diagnosis.aspx

    etc etc
  • tkcasta
    tkcasta Posts: 405 Member
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    you can't because you can't ACTUALLY diagnose alzheimer's until an autopsy is performed

    Really ?

    http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Alzheimers-disease/Pages/Diagnosis.aspx

    etc etc

    "There is no simple, reliable test for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, so the diagnosis is usually based on ruling out other conditions. You may have blood tests and a physical examination to rule out other medical conditions that could be causing your symptoms."

    This is from what you linked. Basically the diagnosis for Alzheimer's is a ruling out of everything else and even then you don't actually know until an autopsy is performed. The structural changes that happen in the brain can kind of be seen in MRIs but not completely and even so, structural changes like that can be attributed to other types of dementia as well (or even traumatic brain injury). The other thing that makes Alzheimer's so difficult is that we really can't reproduce it in animal experiments (non-primate) and that makes working with it and figuring out both treatments and diagnosis really difficult.

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