Stroke, Dietary Fish, Milk, and Sugar Consumption Correlates of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Dementia

Research ObjectivesTo investigate the potentially confounding factors in the relationship between daily sugar intake versus Alzheimer & Parkinson's related death rates, including milk, meat, fish and alcohol consumption; obesity, stroke, hypertension, cancer and diabetes rates; tobacco use; and gross domestic purchasing power parity in different countries.DesignThe data were analyzed using SPSS (SPSS 25). Separate stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to sequentially identify the best set of significant predictors for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Predictor variables included in this analysis were annual estimates of: sugar, milk, meat, fish, and alcohol consumption; obesity, stroke, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes rates; tobacco use; and gross domestic product purchasing power parity (GDP-PPP) for 53 different countries.SettingData from 53 countries was collected from on-line, publicly available Global Change Data Lab, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations (UN), and World Bank sources.ParticipantsUnited States, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Australia, Belgium, United Kingdom, Mexico, Finland, Canada, Austria, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Denmark, Argentina, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Slovakia, Chile, Italy, Poland, Japan, Greece, Peru, Portugal, Hungary, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Bulgaria, Columbia, Turkey, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Romania, South Korea, Venezuela, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Russia, Egypt, Morocco, Ukraine, China, Indonesia, Israel, and IndiaInterventionsNone.Main Outcome MeasuresCorrelations between Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease death rates, versus fish, milk, and sugar consumption, as well as stroke incidence.ResultsAlzheimer's Correlations: Milk: .62 (t = 6.06, p < .001) Stroke: -.26 (t = 2.52, p < .015) Fish: .18 (t = 2.03, p < .048) Parkinson's Correlations Sugar: .39 (t = 3.01, p < .004) Stroke: -.22 (t = -1.96, p < .056) Fish: .22 (t = 2.60, p < .012) Milk: .30 (t = 2.54, p < .015).ConclusionsThe results suggest that there is an important relationship between Parkinson's disease and dietary factors such as sugar, fish, and milk consumption. There is a likewise strong potential relationship between milk and fish intake for Alzheimer's disease. Such significant common correlates involving two clinically distinct dementia types suggest dietary factor(s) may be potentially important to overall dementia prevention.Author(s) DisclosuresNone to declare.