As I have mentioned in the past, fat is not the enemy...

...and cholesterol is not the culprit. Fat is a necessary nutrient that is part of a heart healthy diet and cholesterol is a steroid hormone that makes up part of our cells. High blood cholesterol is an inflammatory response that tells of an underlying problem such as heart disease.

Unfortunately, the uniformed public, physicains, and Big Pharma are busy promoting statins to reduce cholesterol to the point of inducing Alzheimer's and other dementia related disease.

There is a clear reason why statins would promote Alzheimer’s. They cripple the liver’s ability to synthesize cholesterol, and as a consequence the level of LDL in the blood plummets. Cholesterol plays a crucial role in the brain, both in terms of enabling signal transport across the synapse and in terms of encouraging the growth of neurons through healthy development of the myelin sheath. Nonetheless, the statin industry proudly boasts that statins are effective at interfering with cholesterol production in the brain as well as in the liver.

Researchers are only recently discovering that both fat and cholesterol are severely deficient in the Alzheimer’s brain. It turns out that fat and cholesterol are both vital nutrients in the brain. The brain contains only 2% of the body’s mass, but 25% of the total cholesterol. Cholesterol is essential both in transmitting nerve signals and in fighting off infections.

High cholesterol is positively correlated with longevity in people over 85 years old, and has been shown to be associated with better memory function and reduced dementia. The converse is also true: a correlation between falling cholesterol levels and Alzheimer’s.

Sadly, typical American diets are high in complex carbohydrates:

And of course, when you spike your blood sugar, your body spikes its insulin output in response. If you become insulin resistant, your insulin will be high all the time — which in turn inhibits your brain’s ability to clear away plaques. As Gary Taubes wrote:

 

Insulin (in a test tube) will monopolize the attention of insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE), which normally degrades and clears both amyloid proteins and insulin from around the neurons. The more insulin available in the brain, by this scenario, the less IDE is available to clean up the amyloid, which then accumulates excessively and clumps into plaques … Mice that lack the gene to produce IDE develop version of both Alzheimer’s disease and Type 2 diabetes.

Other research has shown that insulin receptors in the brain can become resistant and waste away, just as they can in the muscles and other organs. No wonder some researchers are beginning to refer to Alzheimer’s as Type 3 diabetes.

Bottom line, cut back on carbs and increase your comsumption of whole foods, meats, vegetable, fruits, nuts, and seeds - the way nature intended for optimal function and longevity.

Thanks Fat Head.