Some studies have linked dietary fat to the development of dementia later in life. A new study suggests that the risk may depend on the type of fat consumed.
Scientists studied 6,183 women over age 65, tracking their fat consumption and changes in their mental abilities over four years. The women completed a food questionnaire at the start of the study, then periodically took tests of mental ability.
The researchers assigned a “change score” to each volunteer, summarising changes in memory and abstract thinking over time — the lower the score, the greater the decline. The study recently appeared online in the journal Annals of Neurology.
After controlling for many health and socio-economic factors, the researchers found that women who consumed the most saturated fat were 60 per cent more likely than those consuming the least to have change scores that put them below the 10th percentile.
On the other hand, women who reported consuming the most monounsaturated fat were 44 per cent less likely to have change scores in the lowest one-tenth. Consumption of polyunsaturated fats and trans fats was not associated with any change, nor was total fat.
“People might consider making changes or substitutions in their diet, switching out saturated fats in favour of monounsaturated fats,” said the lead author, Dr Olivia I Okereke, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard.
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