Over recent years, dietary fat has decreased dramatically. It has been demonized and blamed for disease and illness in America. But obesity is at an all time high, heart disease is still the number one killer, and Alzheimer’s is on the rise.
How could this be if we are restricting our diets with low fat foods? This could actually be the root of the problem. In 1980, Alzheimer’s only affected about 0.3 people for every 100,000 in the United States. That number has now increased to 20 for every 100,000. That number is expected to double in the next few decades.
What’s Changed?
Such a large jump must mean that a change in the environment is to blame. Alzheimer’s was first documented in 1906 and was very rare. Even in the 1980s it was considered a very rare disease, but since the 80s, our stance on diet has changed. We began to see a rise in low fat diets, and companies jumped on that trend.
There are more and more ‘low fat’, ‘skim’, ‘non-fat’ foods that are processed and full of additives that we consume, believing them to be healthier. But these foods could be why there are higher rates of Alzheimer’s now than there have ever been.
Alzheimer’s usually surfaces after the age of 60, but people can develop it as early as their 40s. Over half a million Americans under the age of 60 suffer from Alzheimer’s. It is not a normal part of the aging process, although risk does increase with age. It is a disease that affects the brain differently than those who don’t have it.
Alzheimer’s is much more prevalent in developed countries than in third world areas, giving more evidence that it has something to do with a shift in our society. Since we have moved away from eating fat and cholesterol, incidences of Alzheimer’s has grown exponentially.
Saturated fats and cholesterol have been purged from our diets because they are believed to be unhealthy. While consuming enormous amounts of foods that contain fat and cholesterol is bad for our health, our bodies still need that to survive.
Why Is This Important?
Fat is an essential part of the human body. 60% of our brain actually consists of fat and cholesterol. While the brain only consists of 2% of our body’s mass, it actually has almost 25% of its cholesterol.
Even our cells need fat to survive. Cells are encased in a lipid (fat and cholesterol) membrane that protect it. Fat provides the basic framework for our cells and cholesterol is the structural support and regulates the entry and exit of hormones, fats, and proteins.
We have become a fat-deprived nation. Our diets have gone from containing at least 40% of the calories from fat to 30%. Most people’s diets only contain about 20% calories from fat. While we maintain that it is to keep us healthy, there is still an obesity epidemic and heart disease killing our population.
The brain needs fat and cholesterol to survive. It need it to protect itself from degrading and developing Alzheimer’s. Without a fatty brain, we open ourselves to disease and premature death. So don’t be afraid of what healthy fats will do to you, be afraid of what can happen without them.
SOURCE: http://www.faim.org/brainhealth/do-low-fat-diets-cause-alzheimers.html
http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/alzheimers_statins.html
