In its cover story ‘Food for thought: Eat your way to dementia’, the journal points out that the science linking poor diet with obesity and diabetes is well established.
But it goes on to suggest there is now growing evidence that foods high in fat and sugar can trigger Alzheimer’s too.
It says the human brain evolved to seek out foods high in fat and sugar, a strategy that made sense as a survival mechanism when food was scarce and less rich.
But in first world countries today most people have easy access to all the food they need and over-consumption may be turning this preference into a self-destructive compulsion.
In its editorial, New Scientist says: “If correct, this has enormous, and grave, implications. The world already faces an epidemic of diabetes. The prospect of a parallel epidemic of Alzheimer's is truly frightening, in terms of human suffering and monetary cost.”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528805.800-food-for-thought-eat-your-way-to-dementia.html?