Does Poor Diet Plus Alzheimer’s Gene Fuel Disease?
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A poor diet high in cholesterol, fat, and sugar coupled with the ApoE4 “Alzheimer’s” gene is a leading risk factor for the mind-destroying disease, according to a study from the University of Southern California.
Researchers compared the effects of a poor diet on groups of mice that either had the Alzheimer’s-associated ApoE4 gene or the relatively benign variant of the gene, ApoE3. After eating an unhealthy diet, the mice with the ApoE4 gene showed more Alzheimer’s plaques — a marker for inflammation — in their brains, but those with ApoE3 did not.
“Part of what the results are saying is that risk doesn’t affect everybody the same, and that’s true for most risk factors,” said the study’s lead author Christian Pike. “Your genes have a big role in what happens to you, but so does your environment and your modifiable lifestyle factors. How much you exercise becomes important and what you eat becomes important.”
The ApoE gene influences your risk for developing Alzheimer’s. There are three types of the ApoE gene (ApoE2, E3, and E4). Everyone has two copies of the gene, and their combination helps determine your risk for Alzheimer’s.
The ApoE2 variant is the least common and reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s. Even one copy can reduce risk up to 40 percent. ApoE3 is the most common type and doesn’t appear to influence Alzheimer’s.
However, the ApoE4 variant, which is linked to increased inflammation, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease, increases the risk. One copy increases risk up to four times while two copies increase the risk 10-fold.
Researchers placed mice who had the ApoE4 gene on a diet that was 10 percent fat and 7 percent sucrose for 12 weeks. Another group of mice with ApoE4 ate a Western diet that was 45 percent fat and 17 percent sucrose. A similar diet was given to mice with ApoE3.
On the unhealthy diet, both the mice with ApoE4 and those with ApoE3 gained weight and became pre-diabetic. But most significantly, those with ApoE4 on the unhealthy diet quickly developed the signature plaques that obstruct cognition and memory. Alzheimer’s symptoms did not worsen for the ApoE3 mice that ate a Western diet.
“What happens to you in life is a combination of the genes that you have, the environment and behaviors, such as diet,” Pike said.
An estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, and currently the disease currently costs an estimated $286 billion a year. The USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics predicts the number of U.S. patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s will more than double to 9.1 million in the next 35 years and total yearly costs will be at least $1.5 trillion.
The study was published in the journal eNeuro.
Other studies have found that specific foods can lower the odds of developing Alzheimer’s. A study from the National University of Singapore found that tea can slash the risk of dementia in people aged 55 and older, and that it reduced the risk by as much as 86 percent in people who carry the ApoE4 gene.