December 22, 2025

@michaelokun

Dairy fat and dementia, do you know what the data shows? Spoiler alert: HIGH fat cheese and cream were associated w/ lower dementia risk. Prospective in this study means researchers followed folks forward in time to see who developed dementia after their diets were measured. Du and colleagues describe, in a new paper that just dropped in Neurology, a large long-term study examining how different types of dairy related to dementia risk. There were more than two decades of follow up. Key points: - Higher intake of high fat cheese and high fat cream was linked to a lower risk of all cause dementia over about 25 years. - Low fat dairy products including low fat cheese, low fat cream milk and fermented milk showed no meaningful association w/ dementia risk. - Genetics mattered as the link between high fat cheese and Alzheimer's disease appeared stronger in APOE e4 non-carriers. My take: Exposures matter. Hippocrates taught us to pay attention to the accumulation of your daily sins. Here are 5 points from this article that resonated w/ me: 1- Not all dairy is the same and fat content seems to matter in this study. 2- High fat cheese and cream were associated w/ lower dementia risk, however this does not prove cause and effect. 3- Milk yogurt and most low fat dairy products showed neutral results, neither clearly helpful nor were they harmful. 4- Butter at higher intakes showed signals that deserve caution especially for Alzheimer's disease. 5- Diet is one important piece of your brain health. Diet works best when paired w/ exercise, sleep, vascular risk factor control and improving social connections. https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000214343 #michaelokun #dementia #fixelinstitute #dairy #milk #cream