Eggs For The Brain

 Tucking into an egg just twice a week can reduce the risk of Alzheimers disease by at least 20 per cent.

 New research shows that the benefits are even greater for those enjoying eggs five times a week or more, with the risks lowered by more than a quarter.

Scientists think that nutrients in them may help to protect the brain against the ravages of the disease. Now they are recommending regular egg intake as part of a balanced diet to keep Alzheimer's and other types of dementia at bay.

For the new study, researchers at Loma Linda University in California tracked nearly 40,000 men and women over a 15-year period. They found those enjoying eggs once or twice a month were 17 per cent less likely to develop incurable dementia than those who never ate them.

Among volunteers indulging in eggs two to four times a week the reduction in risk was 20 per cent.

And five times a week or more pushed the figure up to 27 per cent, according to results in the Journal of Nutrition.

Eggs are packed with nutrients such as choline, a nutrient that produces the chemical acetylcholine - vital for healthy brain cells and good memory function.

There are an estimated one million people in the UK living with dementia - and by 2040 that figure is expected to climb to 1.4 million.

 But while the search for a cure continues, there is mounting evidence that prevention may be the best form of defence for now.

A major report in 2024 by The Lancet Commission on Dementia concluded that almost half of all cases globally could be prevented, or at least delayed for several years, if action was taken to address 14 risk factors - ranging from smoking and excess alcohol consumption, to loneliness and a sedentary lifestyle - that are driving up rates of illness.