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Goede vetten voor het hart ook goed voor de hersenen*
Uit een Amerikaanse studie onder ruim zesduizend vrouwen, van 65 jaar en ouder blijkt dat goede vetten voor het hart ook goed zijn voor een beter geheugen en minder cognitieve achteruitgang. Het is al wat langer bekend dat voeding rijk aan verzadigde vetten (een belangrijke bron is dierlijk vlees en ook boter) slecht is voor het hart. Van enkelvoudig onverzadigde vetzuren (zoals oliezuur in olijfolie) is het bekend dat die goed zijn voor het hart. Uit deze studie blijkt nu dat precies hetzelfde ook geld voor de hersenen. Veel verzadigd vet zorgt voor duidelijk minder geheugen en meer cognitieve achteruitgang terwijl de enkelvoudig onverzadigde vetten zorgen voor een beter geheugen en minder cognitieve achteruitgang.
With Fat: What's Good or Bad for the Heart, May Be the Same for the Brain
It has been known for years that eating too many foods containing "bad" fats, such as saturated fats or trans fats, isn't healthy for your heart. However, according to new research from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), one "bad" fat -- saturated fat -- was found to be associated with worse overall cognitive function and memory in women over time. By contrast, a "good" fat -- mono-unsaturated fat was associated with better overall cognitive function and memory.
This study is published by Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society.
The research team analyzed data from the Women's Health Study -- originally a cohort of nearly 40,000 women, 45 years and older. The researchers focused on data from a subset of 6,000 women, all over the age of 65. The women participated in three cognitive function tests, which were spaced out every two years for an average testing span of four years. These women filled out very detailed food frequency surveys at the start of the Women's Health Study, prior to the cognitive testing.
"When looking at changes in cognitive function, what we found is that the total amount of fat intake did not really matter, but the type of fat did," explained Olivia Okereke, MD, MS, BWH Department of Psychiatry.
Women who consumed the highest amounts of saturated fat, which can come from animal fats such as red meat and butter, compared to those who consumed the lowest amounts, had worse overall cognition and memory over the four years of testing. Women who ate the most of the monounsaturated fats, which can be found in olive oil, had better patterns of cognitive scores over time.
"Our findings have significant public health implications," said Okereke. "Substituting in the good fat in place of the bad fat is a fairly simple dietary modification that could help prevent decline in memory."
Okereke notes that strategies to prevent cognitive decline in older people are particularly important. Even subtle declines in cognitive functioning can lead to higher risk of developing more serious problems, like dementia and Alzheimer disease.
This work was supported by research grants and awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (HL043851 and HL080467); NIH/National Cancer Institute (CA047988); and NIH/National Institute on Aging (AG015933 and K08 AG029813).
(Abstract
Objective:
A study was undertaken to relate dietary fat types to cognitive change in healthy community-based elders.
Methods:
Among 6,183 older participants in the Women's Health Study, we related intake of major fatty acids (saturated [SFA], monounsaturated [MUFA], total polyunsaturated [PUFA], trans-unsaturated) to late-life cognitive trajectory. Serial cognitive testing, conducted over 4 years, began 5 years after dietary assessment. Primary outcomes were global cognition (averaging tests of general cognition, verbal memory, and semantic fluency) and verbal memory (averaging tests of recall). We used analyses of response profiles and logistic regression to estimate multivariate-adjusted differences in cognitive trajectory and risk of worst cognitive change (worst 10%) by fat intake.
Results:
Higher SFA intake was associated with worse global cognitive (p for linear trend = 0.008) and verbal memory (p for linear trend = 0.01) trajectories. There was a higher risk of worst cognitive change, comparing highest versus lowest SFA quintiles; the multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was 1.64 (1.04–2.58) for global cognition and 1.65 (1.04–2.61) for verbal memory. By contrast, higher MUFA intake was related to better global cognitive (p for linear trend < 0.001) and verbal memory (p for linear trend = 0.009) trajectories, and lower OR (95% CI) of worst cognitive change in global cognition (0.52 [0.31–0.88]) and verbal memory (0.56 [0.34–0.94]). Total fat, PUFA, and trans-fat intakes were not associated with cognitive trajectory.
Interpretation:
Higher SFA intake was associated with worse global cognitive and verbal memory trajectories, whereas higher MUFA intake was related to better trajectories. Thus, different consumption levels of the major specific fat types, rather than total fat intake itself, appeared to influence cognitive aging. ANN NEUROL 2012;)
(Augustus 2012) 

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