THE INCIDENCE OF DEMENTIA AND INTAKE OF ANIMAL PRODUCTS - PRELIMINARYFINDINGS FROM THE ADVENTIST HEALTH STUDY

We investigated the relationship between animal product consumption an d evidence of dementia in two cohort substudies. The first enrolled 27 2 California residents matched for age, sex, and zip code (1 vegan, 1 lacto-ovo-vegetarian, and 2 'heavy' meat eaters in each of 68 quartets ). This design ensured a wide range of dietary exposure. The second in cluded 2,984 unmatched subjects who resided within the Loma Linda, Cal ifornia area. All subjects were enrolled in the Adventist Health Study . The matched subjects who ate meat (including poultry and fish) were more than twice as likely to become demented as their vegetarian count erparts (relative risk 2.18, p = 0.065) and the discrepancy was furthe r widened (relative risk 2.99, p = 0.048) when past meat consumption w as taken into account. There was no significant difference in the inci dence of dementia in the vegetarian versus meat-eating unmatched subje cts. There was no obvious explanation for the difference between the t wo substudies, although the power of the unmatched substudy to detect an effect of 'heavy' meat consumption was unexpectedly limited. There was a trend towards delayed onset of dementia in vegetarians in both s ubstudies.