More Eating, More Memory Loss
Another good reason to be practicing calorie restriction: "New research suggests that consuming between 2,100 and 6,000 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), among people age 70 and older. ... We observed a dose-response pattern which simply means; the higher the amount of calories consumed each day, the higher the risk of MCI. ... The study involved 1,233 people between the ages of 70 and 89 and free of dementia residing in Olmsted County, Minn. Of those, 163 had MCI. Participants reported the amount of calories they ate or drank in a food questionnaire and were divided into three equal groups based on their daily caloric consumption. One-third of the participants consumed between 600 and 1,526 calories per day, one-third between 1,526 and 2,143 and one-third consumed between 2,143 and 6,000 calories per day. The odds of having MCI more than doubled for those in the highest calorie-consuming group compared to those in the lowest calorie-consuming group. The results were the same after adjusting for history of stroke, diabetes, amount of education, and other factors that can affect risk of memory loss. There was no significant difference in risk for the middle group."
Link: http://www.aan.com/press/index.cfm?fuseaction=release.view&release=1023
"In a two-year randomized trial of 168 people with MCI given either high-dose vitamins or placebo, vitamins cut the rate of brain shrinkage by up to half. The vitamins were the three B vitamins folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12, which inhibit production of the amino acid homocysteine. High blood levels of homocysteine are associated with increased risk of dementia and cardiovascular disease.[10][11]"
Wikipedia
The one-third of the study group with the lowest caloric consumption (600 - 1,526 calories/day) probably included individuals with Alzheimer's, or progressing towards it since Alzheimer's patients become anorexic. My guess is that, unless this was accounted for, the protective effect of low calorie diets in healthy individuals is even stronger than reported.
Going on a severe diet for the rest of your life doesn't actually make you live longer, it only SEEMS longer. :)
Funny Paul. I don't agree with that, but still funny.
An odd way to report the results, are we to conclude that eating more than 6000 calories a day does not adversely effect memory? The study would be more interesting to me if they showed some divergence between BMI and calorie consumption with regard to memory loss.