How barbecues and fry-ups could speed up the dementia process

A US study claimed that eating barbecues and fry-ups result in compounds that suppress an anti-ageing enzyme.

15:58 25 February 2014

If you love eating grilled and fried meat, you may be speeding up the dementia process. According to a study conducted by researchers in the United States, barbecues and fry-ups result in compounds that suppress an anti-ageing enzyme.

The researchers added that fatty and sugary foods may also play a huge part in boosting levels of these harmful compounds known as advanced glycation end-products (Ages).

The compounds can also be found in pasta, cheese, eggs, white bread, cakes, pastries, and biscuits.

Professor Derek Hill, from University College London, said: "There is a great deal of public interest in the way that diet can cause, or prevent, serious diseases in older life.

"Some of the proposed 'bad guys' in the diet are Ages, which are present in especially high quantities in meat that is cooked by frying or grilling."

The research, which was published in the journal Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, included mice which were fed a typical Western diet.

Researchers noticed that unlike animals that were not given the high-Age diet, the mice showed low levels of Sirt1 in their brain tissues and blood. This has been previously linked to age-related brain diseases, which can lead to Alzheimer’s. The mice also showed of mental impairment.

Speaking from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, the scientists advised: "Given the major public health potential of these findings, larger clinical trials are warranted."