 | A recent article published by US News and World Report suggests that drinking milk may lower your risk of Alzheimer's disease. To reduce a diffuse clinical syndrome to such an offhand lifestyle option seems at first glance a wee bit dubious. I suspect it is in reference to glutathione production but let's unpack this latest claim. The actual article referenced in the article was not identified but I was able to find at least the abstract here. |
“A long-standing theory of aging called the free-radical theory explains that oxidative stress plays a key role in aging, aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease,” says lead study author In-Young Choi, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. “Glutathione is a major antioxidant in our brains and is known to fight against oxidative stress and protect our nerve cells. Therefore, increasing glutathione concentrations could be an important strategy to promote brain health.”
Professor Choi and colleagues used self-reported food diaries to compare the dairy intake and glutathione concentrations in 60 healthy older adults (approximately 68.7 years of age). What they found was that glutathione concentrations in the frontal [Spearman's rank-order correlation (rs) = 0.39, P = 0.013], parietal (rs = 0.50, P = 0.001), and frontoparietal regions (rs = 0.47, P = 0.003) correlated with average daily dairy servings. A quick reminder about the measure they are reporting. Spearman correlation coefficient, rs, ranges in value from -1 to +1 with a +1 indicating a perfect correlation, "0" meaning no association, and a -1 indicating a negative association. The closer the value is to "0" the weaker the association. Another way to think of the coefficient is as an "effect size". Thinking about the data in this manner we would describe an rs of 0.39 as a weak association, and 0.50 and 0.47 as moderate.
So what? The underlying theory seems to be that glutathione concentrations are enhanced with increased dairy consumption which allows the leap stated in the article that we all should be drinking our milk and eating dairy. Clearly more research is needed before we jump onto the every changing recommendations for milk or dairy consumption.
Although these findings in a small observational study don''t seem to be much of a "trout", I do think the final paragraph contains a few workable insights.
So what? The underlying theory seems to be that glutathione concentrations are enhanced with increased dairy consumption which allows the leap stated in the article that we all should be drinking our milk and eating dairy. Clearly more research is needed before we jump onto the every changing recommendations for milk or dairy consumption.
Although these findings in a small observational study don''t seem to be much of a "trout", I do think the final paragraph contains a few workable insights.
Whatever you eat to increase your glutathione levels, for optimal Alzheimer’s protection, you’ll also need to integrate other brain-boosting strategies into your daily routine. “To optimally reduce oxidative stress and Alzheimer’s risk, you have to hit from every angle,” Isaacson says. In addition to dietary changes, he recommends regularly working out, reducing stress and exercising your brain with continual learning, games and brain teasers.
