Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

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Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

Post by Quantifier »

It is a new paper, and pay-walled, so I only have access to the abstract at the moment, but it looks interesting:

Long-term dietary protein intake and subjective cognitive decline in US men and women

Their main conclusions: protein intake is associated with reduced odds for cognitive decline compared to the same amount (in calories) of carbohydrate, plant protein improves the odds even more compared to animal protein, and processed meats make them worse.
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Re: Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

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This looks interesting. I haven't read full-text yet, but from the abstract, it appears that pure plant protein may not be our best option, but rather a combo:
For protein food sources, higher intakes of beans/legumes, fish, and lean poultry were significantly associated with lower odds of SCD, but higher intake of hotdogs was associated with higher odds of SCD.
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Re: Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

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Thanks for sharing. I need to eat more protein. I already knew I was not eating quite enough. Julie, adding this excerpt from the article:
Plant protein had the strongest inverse association, with a 26% lower odds of SCD (Subjective Cognitive Decline) compared with total carbohydrates. In addition, for every 5% of energy intake from animal protein replaced with the equivalent amount of energy from plant protein, there was a 16% lower odds of SCD after adjusting for major nondietary factors (including socioeconomic factors) and other dietary factors (including trans fat, saturated fat, MUFA, PUFA, carotenoids, flavonoids, and vitamins C, D, and E). Especially in the older population, low protein intake can be associated with a higher risk of sarcopenia (35, 36) and frailty (14), which are closely linked to the development of cognitive impairment (37). Our results supported the hypothesis that plant-based protein may be a superior source of protein.
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Re: Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

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Plumster wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 6:38 pm
Plant protein had the strongest inverse association, with a 26% lower odds of SCD (Subjective Cognitive Decline) compared with total carbohydrates. In addition, for every 5% of energy intake from animal protein replaced with the equivalent amount of energy from plant protein, there was a 16% lower odds of SCD after adjusting for major nondietary factors (including socioeconomic factors) and other dietary factors (including trans fat, saturated fat, MUFA, PUFA, carotenoids, flavonoids, and vitamins C, D, and E). Especially in the older population, low protein intake can be associated with a higher risk of sarcopenia (35, 36) and frailty (14), which are closely linked to the development of cognitive impairment (37). Our results supported the hypothesis that plant-based protein may be a superior source of protein.
Thanks for that Plumster. I wish I could easily obtain the full text. Do you recall from reading it whether they hypothesize specifically why eating animal protein might not be as good as plant protein when SCD is the endpoint?
ApoE 3/4 > Thanks in advance for any responses made to my posts.
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Re: Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

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Poisson regression was used to examine the associations between dietary protein, amino acids, and various protein food sources with subsequent SCD
It would be interesting to see the amino acid data. I'm wondering whether the participants eating more animal protein were also low in glycine, which is supposed to offset the toxicity of methionine, at least in rats. Maybe low glycine was ruled out as a risk factor in higher animal protein diets and that's already reflected in the conclusions.
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Re: Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

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Hi Circular,
They mention advanced glycation end products:
Plant-based protein foods had the lowest amounts of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), followed by poultry and fish, with processed meat containing the highest concentrations of AGEs among major protein sources (43). A low-AGE diet was found to be associated with significantly lower brain amyloid protein accumulation (44). In our findings, beans/legumes had the strongest inverse association with SCD, followed by lean poultry and fish, with processed meat having the least favorable association, consistent with these insights (43, 44) on AGEs. Different cooking methods may also affect AGE formation: cooking with high and dry heat such as frying or roasting resulted in significantly higher concentrations of AGE (43), which may have been reflected in the positive association between chicken with skin and SCD seen in our cohorts.
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Re: Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

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Plumster wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:37 pm Hi Circular,
They mention advanced glycation end products:
Plant-based protein foods had the lowest amounts of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), followed by poultry and fish, with processed meat containing the highest concentrations of AGEs among major protein sources (43). A low-AGE diet was found to be associated with significantly lower brain amyloid protein accumulation (44). In our findings, beans/legumes had the strongest inverse association with SCD, followed by lean poultry and fish, with processed meat having the least favorable association, consistent with these insights (43, 44) on AGEs. Different cooking methods may also affect AGE formation: cooking with high and dry heat such as frying or roasting resulted in significantly higher concentrations of AGE (43), which may have been reflected in the positive association between chicken with skin and SCD seen in our cohorts.
Thanks Plumster! This makes so much sense. I love the topic of AGEs. I sure haven't reviewed all the papers about them, but this is the first I've seen that has suggested a connection with cognitive decline. Normally diabetes, kidney disease, endothelial inflammation and the like come up. Why is it that the brain is always the last guest invited to the parties? I guess the scientists' brains are too filled with AGEs to realize their ommission.

This is a good summary paper about AGEs for anyone who wants to get better acquainted with them. (It was cited in your paper in the OP:)

Advanced Glycation End Products in Foods and a Practical Guide to Their Reduction in the Diet

And then there's this from 2017:

Perspective: The Paradox in Dietary Advanced Glycation End Products Research-The Source of the Serum and Urinary Advanced Glycation End Products Is the Intestines, Not the Food
recent studies with state-of-the-art ultraperformance LC-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) found that there is no evidence that these foods have elevated levels of dAGEs relative to other foods. Paradoxically, observational research found that the intake of fruits (mainly apples), fruit juices (apple juice), vegetables, nuts, seeds, soy, and nonfat milk, which are foods synonymous with healthy eating, as well as the intake of cold breakfast cereals, whole grains (breads), and sweets, which are sources of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), were associated with elevated serum and urinary N-ε-carboxymethyl-lysine (CML). Ironically, these are the same foods found to have lower CML levels, as measured by UPLC-MS. One possible explanation for this paradox is that the source of the elevated CML is the intestines, not the food. One possible explanation for this paradox is that the source of the elevated CML is the intestines, not the food. When considered collectively, dAGE research results are consistent with the "fructositis" hypothesis, which states that intake of foods and beverages with high fructose-to-glucose ratios (HFCS-sweetened foods and beverages, agave syrup, crystalline fructose, apple juice, and apple juice blends) promotes the intestinal in situ formation of readily absorbed, proinflammatory extracellular, newly identified, fructose-associated AGE, an overlooked source of immunogenic AGEs.


It has been suggested that bottom-up proteomics would be a useful tool to disentangle the paradoxical results of dAGE research (1), because it will provide valuable information regarding the protein source of postprandial and fasting serum and urinary CML peptides and of other proinflammatory AGEs [pentosidine, glucosepane, N-ε-carboxyethyl-lysine (CEL), and hydroimidazolones] (8, 9, 11) that may be harbingers of chronic disease.
I don't think this is one of my favorite topics anymore :lol:
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Re: Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

Post by Julie G »

Hi Circular,
They mention advanced glycation end products:
Plumster, did you find access to the full paper? If so, please share how. I did gain access to full-text and was able to quickly skim, but can't get back in. :(
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Re: Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

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Thanks, Circular. The table from the study is helpful. Here is also an easy read from Healthline for anyone wanting a quick overview. A "high-AGE diet is often referred to as anything significantly above 15,000 kilounits daily."
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Re: Protein for prevention of cognitive decline

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Julie, I have access through my institution and am happy to share, somehow, the PDF with anyone interested.
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