The Link Between Sugar And Dementia

From time to time, your sweet tooth cravings may pop up. However, did you know that a steady diet of sugary foods and drinks could lead to memory loss?

Let’s see what research tells us about the link between sugar and dementia.

The Study

Researchers from China conducted a study using the UK Biobank’s data. They followed 158,000 mostly middle-aged adults from England, Scotland and Wales with an average age of 56 (their age ranges were between 37 to 73).

The reason this age range was chosen was because most people in their 50s have yet to display symptoms of dementia

The researchers compiled the dietary habits of these participants for over a decade.

What They Discovered

The researchers found that participants who frequently had sugar in their diet were found to be at 43% higher risk of developing dementia compared to their peers.

In a separate study, researchers who studied aging adults in the Chicago, Illinois area and corroborated the findings, concluding that a high sugar intake was linked to increased dementia risk in older adults, regardless of age, gender or socioeconomic background.

How Does Sugar Lead To Dementia?

The link between sugar to dementia isn’t a straight path. The reason why those with a higher sugar intake are at a higher dementia risk boils down to the environment sugar creates in our bodies.

Sugar causes inflammation, high blood sugar, insulin resistance. These are the first steps in creating an internal environment which leads to a whole host of problems such as high-blood pressure and diabetes.