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Eating too much of red meat, butter can cause Alzheimer’s

Love to eat red meat and butter? Beware, they may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease, especially in older women, a new study has claimed.

Researchers linked to Harvard University have found that older women who ate too much red meat, butter and other foods that contain high levels of saturated fats had worse memories than others.

But, those who ate more monounsaturated fats - found in olive oil, sunflower oil, seeds, nuts and avocados - had better memories, the researchers said.

"When looking at changes in cognitive function, what we found is that the total amount of fat intake did not really matter, but the type of fat did," lead researcher Oliva Okereke was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

Okereke, who is from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston which is affiliated to Harvard Medical School, and her fellow researchers made their conclusions after looking at results from 6,000 women aged over 65 years.

In the study, the participants subjected to a series of mental tests over four years and answered questionnaires about diet and lifestyle. "Substituting in the good fat in place of the bad fat is a fairly simple dietary modification that could help prevent decline in memory," he said.