ArticleThe American journal of clinical nutrition2021
Meat consumption and risk of incident dementia: cohort study of 493,888 UK Biobank participants.
Article in The American journal of clinical nutrition, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 125 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sustainable dietary recommendations for the Spanish population.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Dietary Intake, Mediterranean and Nordic Diet Adherence in Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- High intake of ultra-processed food is associated with dementia in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.Journal of neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Consumption of ultra-processed foods and risk for Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Association of vitamin E intake in diet and supplements with risk of dementia: A meta-analysis.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Metabolic signatures, vitamin D, and red cell distribution width in dementia risk: UK Biobank insights.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Novel Plasma Proteins Associated With Alzheimer's Disease Risk in APOE ε4 Carriers and Non-carriers.Research square · 2026Article
- Common Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Clinical Cardiology and Dietary Intervention: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Marbling Matters: Lean and Fatty Red Meat Show Opposing Associations with Brain Structural Indices.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Meat Consumption and Cognitive Health by APOE Genotype.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Ageing, Wealth, and Diet: A Global Cross-National Analysis of Cereal Consumption and Dementia Risk.Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders · 2026Article
- Ultra-processed food intake and cognitive decline in older adults.European journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Barriers and enablers to reduced meat intake and perceptions of sustainable diets, among Los Angeles County adults with low incomes: a qualitative interview study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Food-chain spirochetes: a unified hypothesis for Parkinson's disease and dementia risk.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Article
- Individual and neighborhood socioeconomic inequality and the risk of dementia: A 14-year follow-up study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Source-specific nitrate intake and incident dementia in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health Study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Alzheimer's disease polygenic risk's association with all-cause dementia through the plasma metabolome in the UK Biobank study.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Article
- Combined effects of physical activity, cognitive activity, and dietary patterns on cognitive impairment in older adults with consideration of APOE genotype: a cohort study.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Article
- Association between sulfur microbial diet and the risk of dementia: a large-scale prospective cohort study.Nutrition journal · 2025Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWorldwide, the prevalence of dementia is increasing and diet as a modifiable factor could play a role. Meat consumption has been cross-sectionally associated with dementia risk, but specific amounts and types related to risk of incident dementia remain poorly understood.
objectiveWe aimed to investigate associations between meat consumption and risk of incident dementia in the UK Biobank cohort.
methodsMeat consumption was estimated using a short dietary questionnaire at recruitment and repeated 24-h dietary assessments. Incident all-cause dementia comprising Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VD) was identified by electronic linkages to hospital and mortality records. HRs for each meat type in relation to each dementia outcome were estimated in Cox proportional hazard models. Interactions between meat consumption and the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele were additionally explored.
resultsAmong 493,888 participants included, 2896 incident cases of all-cause dementia, 1006 cases of AD, and 490 cases of VD were identified, with mean ± SD follow-up of 8 ± 1.1 y. Each additional 25 g/day intake of processed meat was associated with increased risks of incident all-cause dementia (HR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.24, 1.67; P-trend < 0.001) and AD (HR: 1.52; 95% CI: 1.18, 1.96; P-trend = 0.001). In contrast, a 50-g/d increment in unprocessed red meat intake was associated with reduced risks of all-cause dementia (HR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.69, 0.95; P-trend = 0.011) and AD (HR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.53, 0.92; P-trend = 0.009). The linear trend was not significant for unprocessed poultry and total meat. Regarding incident VD, there were no statistically significant linear trends identified, although for processed meat, higher consumption categories were associated with increased risks. The APOE ε4 allele increased dementia risk by 3 to 6 times but did not modify the associations with diet significantly.
conclusionThese findings highlight processed-meat consumption as a potential risk factor for incident dementia, independent of the APOE ε4 allele.
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