FAST FACTS
- “A new study reveals that eating eggs for brain health may help reduce cognitive decline in older women.”
- Women who ate five or further eggs per week had better semantic memory and superintendent functioning than those who eat smaller or no eggs each week, the exploration showed.
- Still, the study does not prove that eating eggs causes a boost in brain health but only that there is an association between the two.
roughly two out of every three American grown-ups will witness some position of cognitive impairment by the age of 70. [1] Still, a recent study suggests a simple result for staving off cognitive decline by eating eggs.
The exploration, published lately in the journal Nutrients, set up a link between egg consumption and better semantic memory and superintendent performance in women. [2]
The study’s lead investigator, Donna Kritz-Silverstein, PhD, a professor in the University of California San Diego’s School of Public Health and Department of Family Medicine, told Health that the prior research on the connection between salutary cholesterol situations and cognitive function is contradictory, with some studies finding a positive correlation and others finding a negative one.
The discrepancy opened the door for the research team to “investigate whether egg consumption was associated with change in cognitive performance over four times in a sizable sample of elderly men and women who reside in communities,” the spokesperson stated.
further Eggs, Better Cognitive Health
To test the goods of eggs on cognitive functioning, experimenters pulled data on 890 grown-ups( 357 men and 533 women) who shared in the Rancho Bernardo Study, a long- term community- grounded experimental cohort study.The average actor’s age ranged from 70 to 72, and all of them were older than 55.
Between 1988 and 1991, party egg input was measured using meal frequency questionnaires.Experimenters also gave actors performance tests between those times examining global cognitive functioning, similar as language, exposure, attention, recall, superintendent function, internal inflexibility, and visuomotor shadowing. Between 1992 and 1996, those chops underwent another evaluation, with an average interval of four visits.
According to the experimenters, 16.5% of women and 14% of males said they never ate eggs. In discrepancy, 7 of men and nearly 4 of women reported consuming eggs over five times per week.
In general, men consumed eggs at higher rates than women did; they were more likely to eat them twice, thrice, or more than five times each day. It was more common for women to consume one to three eggs each month or not eat any at all.
After conforming for life choices, medical judgments , and protein, calorie, and cholesterol input, the substantiation showed that women who consumed more eggs had lower decline in ignorance scores, which assess semantic memory and superintendent function.
With every categorical increase in egg consumption, the liability of a woman passing cognitive decline dropped by 0.1. In other words, women who ate eggs further than five times per week had a half point less decline in order of ignorance over four times than those who nowadays consumed eggs.
” Egg consumption was not associated with decline on any of the measures of cognitive performance we used in either gender,” according to Kritz- Silverstein,” although analogous correlations were n’t seen in males.” This implies that the conservation of cognitive function may be aided by egg input.
Although experimenters can not explain the differences seen between men and women, Kritz- Silverstein said that they could be due to varying rates of diabetes, educational position, exercise, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption between the relations.
Limitations of the Study
“ The generalizability of the study’s results may be limited due to the unity of the Rancho Bernardo Study actors who are generally white, largely educated, and can get access to medical care, ” Kritz- Silverstein said.
Still, the study notes that this unity may illustrate that factors similar as culture, education, the capability to go to medical care, and life choices are less likely to impact the results.
The exploration also reckoned on tone- reported information, which is more likely to be inaccurate, and it did n’t explore the medium behind how eggs may profit cognition though the study noted that they contain several nutrients known to support brain health, similar as protein, choline, and carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin.
Unborn exploration into the cognitive benefits of eggs should include imaging to show whether cognitive performance is harmonious with observed changes in the brain, Kritz- Silverstein noted.
Eating to Slow Cognitive Decline
According to the study, eating eggs may help to preserve cognitive abilities. Though eggs have had a bad rap due to their high cholesterol content — one large egg has roughly 200 milligrams of cholesterol — experts now say most people can eat one to two eggs daily without risking cardiac health damage.
However, there are plenty of other foods that might also help with cognition.
“ Antioxidant-rich foods, like berries, spinach, and nuts, help fight inflammation and oxidative stress, which can accelerate aging and neurodegenerative conditions, ” Amy Davis, RDN, a registered dietitian at Amy Davis Nutrition, told Health. Particularly beneficial for memory and the development of new brain cells is turmeric.
also, the Mediterranean- DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay( MIND) and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension( DASH) have been shown to help decelerate cognitive decline, Lindsay Malone, MS, RDN, LD, a registered dietitian and nutrition educator at Case Western Reserve University, told Health.
Eventually, when it comes to eating to support brain health, David and Malone encourage balance and temperance across the major food groups. No bone food or actions will inescapably help cognitive decline, they note. Alternatively, “Don’t put all your eggs in one handbasket,” as Malone stated.
2 Sources
- Hale JM, Schneider DC, Mehta NK, Myrskylä M. Cognitive impairment in the U.S.: lifetime risk, age at onset, and years impaired. SSM Popul Health. 2020;11:100577. doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100577
- Kritz-Silverstein D, Bettencourt R. Egg consumption and 4-year change in cognitive function in older men and women: the Rancho Bernardo Study. Nutrients. 2024;16(16):2765. doi:10.3390/nu16162765