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Dietary Theory of Alzheimer’s

A provocative theory published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition attempts to explain the dramatic rise in Alzheimer’s disease

April 11, 2011 |
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Dietary Theory of Alzheimer’s, 5.0 out of 5 based on 4 ratings

Sources Cited

G. J. Brewer. The risks of copper toxicity contributing to cognitive decline in the aging population and to Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 28(3):238, 2009.

Acknowledgements

Transcript

One of the great remaining medical mysteries is what’s behind the dramatic rise in Alzheimer’s disease. In a century we basically went from no Alzheimer’s to the 7th leading cause of death in the United States, currently afflicting 5 million Americans. A provocative theory was published last year in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.
Alzheimers has become an epidemic. 1 in 10 of us in our 60’s. 1 in 5 of us in our 70’s, and nearly 1 in 3 of us in our 80s will develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Some say it’s just because we have an aging population, but if you go back and look at the data, prior to about 100 years ago, there was no evidence of Alzheimer’s—no matter how old you were. And even now, it’s really only a major problem in the developed world. The elderly in India and Africa, for example, are spared this disease. When we look at the epidemiology we should be, shocked.
We have allowed something in our environment to steal the minds of our elderly, at a terrible cost. As a people we should be outraged—frightened, and frantically searching for what’s in the environment that’s causing this terrible onslaught. But instead the scientific community seems to be passively letting this happen. There is not much research in this area. Most efforts, frankly, are coming up with drugs to try to treat it rather than try to prevent it in the first place.
Given the link between meat eating and dementia, some scientists have suggested a prion theory, maybe Alzheimer’s is some human variant of mad cow disease. We certainly are eating more beef, but this new researcher is skeptical, believing the real cause to be something else in our developed environment, namely copper toxicity. Interestingly, that could explain any meat/Alzheimer’s connection, because meat eating may contribute to copper toxicity—remember the U.S. meat shipment that Mexico refused to let in? That was for copper contamination.
This reseracher blames three things that developed countries have done over the last half century or so: started using copper plumbing for our water supply, started taking lots of supplements—like multivitamins with copper, and started eating too much meat. So he suggests we test our water for copper, throw out any supplements with copper in them, and then, in terms of diet to prevent Alzheimers, number 3, reduce meat intake, since the copper in meat is much better absorbed. So yeah, blaming meat may actuallybe right—but, this new theory goes, it’s not prions, the damaging agent in meat may be copper.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger
  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/rami/ Rami

    Copper, eh? Hm. I’m a vegan “nutritarian” in the Joel Fuhrman mold. I track my nutritional intake and my copper intake is always 300-500% the RDI. Should I be worried? Mushrooms are very high in copper; I try to have about 100 g a day because they are so high in lysine and B vitamins. Or should I just hope that copper from plants is not well absorbed, so despite the megadoses of copper I am getting, it won’t lead to trouble down the road?

  • JJ

    I saw this video about the same time that I took a trip to our local farmer’s market. I asked a person in one booth whether or not his food was organic. He said “such and such is, but such and such is not, but we don’t add pesticides”. I wanted to be clear, and used a phrase that I had seen in another booth: “Oh, you are spray-free?” He said, “No, nobody is spray-free. Nothing would grow if we were spray-free. We just use organically approved sprays, such as copper.”

    Then I saw this video about copper and a potential link to altzheimers. Any thoughts about how much copper is in organic foods and whether or not this should be a concern? And if so, are some organic crops given more copper than others???

    Thanks!

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/drdons/ DrDons

      I don’t worry too much about the amount of copper in organic fruits and vegetables. The human body has mechanisms to avoid problems with copper unless exposure to a large amount over time or in the case of Wilson’s Disease( a rare inherited condition that causes build up of copper in the body).

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/lilytree/ lilytree

    JJ, that is disturbing information. I did a Google search and found that indeed, copper spraying is a standard organic agricultural practice. Many of our water pipes are also made of copper. Zinc, commonly deficient in vegans, helps keep copper levels from getting too high… Dr. Gregor, what are your thoughts on this? Do you know if we should be concerned here?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/sonarlily/ sonarlily

    Dr. Greger, what about copper IUD’s? I can’t find any studies about this this; just anecdotal information. I’m thinking about getting mine removed because of the copper toxicity issue, though I have no other pressing reason to do so. :(

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/drdons/ DrDons

      All forms of contraception contain risk and have to weighed against the risk of pregnancy. I also couldn’t find any studies on it. There is a free online review article on the copper IUD’s available through PubMed if you are interested. The article is by Bliss Kaneshiro and Tod Aeby, Long-term safety, efficacy, and patient acceptability of the intrauterine Copper T-380A contraceptive device Int J Womens Health. 2010; 2: 211–220. The article doesn’t mention any systemic difficulties with the copper. Hope this helps. Be well.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/kdahlin/ KDahlin

    I found this paper: “Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia in developing
    countries: prevalence, management, and risk factors” published in The Lancet in 2008 and it has a map showing distribution of Alzheimer’s Disease in the world. It does show that it’s low in India and a few other places but the authors of this paper describe it as being absent in the developing countries, which is clearly not the case. I’m confused. These authors got their information from a paper by Waldman and Lamb. I guess I’ll try and track that down.

  • Mike

    Dr Greger:  Love the site and love the info–it’s inspiring my wife and me to make healthier choices (we’re both long time vegans for moral reasons).  I’m concerned about how strongly you state that Alzheimer’s is a first world problem or one that did not exist prior to 100 years ago.  I can’t imagine the level of evidence that would be required to back up such strong assertions.  My wife’s Grandmother died of Alzheimer’s.  She was born and raised in Trinidad and was a life time lacto vegetarian.  Her family moved her to Canada for medical care when she was in her 70s because she had become senile and was unable to live on her own.  In Canada she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.   It’s not unheard of for elderly people in Trinidad who have limited access to medical care to become senile.  Many of them probably have undiagnosed Alzheimer’s.  

    • Mike

      Correction on the diet listed above–I got the sides of the family mixed up.  My paternal Grandmother in law was not a vegetarian.  

  • Michael Greger M.D.
  • Michael Greger M.D.

    For some context, please check out my associated blog post Harvard’s Meat and Mortality Studies!

  • http://www.facebook.com/michel.voss1 Michel Voss

    Regulation of Brain Iron and Copper Homeostasis by Brain Barrier Systems: Implication in Neurodegenerative Diseases.Pharmacol Ther. 2012 February; 133(2): 177–188. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3268876/

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