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Scientists from the University of Leeds conducted an experiment involving 500 people to find out how the daily consumption of meat affects the human body. In addition, they studied the effect of processed meat on health.
In the course of the study, scientists used information from the British Biobank database, which contained detailed genetic and medical information about residents of Great Britain aged 40 to 69. Thus, they were able to study how the consumption of different types of meat affects the development of dementia. About 5-8% of people aged 60 and older suffer from this disease.
It turned out that the daily inclusion in the diet of 25 g of processed meat, for example, a portion of bacon, increases the risk of cognitive and mental diseases by 44%. At the same time, unprocessed red meat (pork, beef or veal), on the contrary, can protect the body from such conditions. Thus, those consuming about 50 g of such meat per day had a 19% lower potential risk of developing the disease.
“Anything we can do to study potential risk factors for dementia can help us reduce the rate of this debilitating condition. This analysis is the first step towards understanding whether what we eat can affect this risk," said study leader Professor Janet Cade.
