An estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, a severe form of dementia,¹ and the most recent data²,³ suggests over half a million Americans die from Alzheimer’s each year, making it the third leading cause of death in the US, right behind heart disease and cancer.

As prevalence has increased, so have the questions about why, and the search for answers has dished up some pretty curious findings over the past several years.

It seems quite clear that Alzheimer’s disease is primarily diet-related, with insulin resistance, processed foods, trans fats, and unhealthy omega 6:3 ratios being the primary culprits.

However, recent research has also uncovered evidence suggesting that the disease may be the result of agricultural practices, and even more surprising, Alzheimer’s could potentially be transmitted via certain invasive medical procedures.

Five Routes to Alzheimer’s Disease

At present, evidence suggests there are a number of causes promoting Alzheimer’s symptoms, including the following:

1.  Type 3 diabetes: Faulty insulin signaling is an underlying cause of insulin resistance, which typically leads to type 2 diabetes. However, while insulin is usually associated with its role in keeping your blood sugar levels in a healthy range, it also plays a role in brain signaling.

Researchers have found that when insulin signaling in the brain is disrupted, it results in dementia, hence the suggestion that Alzheimer’s may be a brain-related form of diabetes.

Even mild elevation of blood sugar — a level of around 105 or 110 — is associated with an elevated risk for dementia. According to neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, if your fasting blood sugar is over 95 mg/dl, it’s time to address your diet to lower it, to protect your brain health.

2. Gut dysfunction, caused by a combination of excess sugars and processed foods; antibiotic exposure from food and medicine; genetically engineered (GE) grains, which create foreign proteins; and pesticide exposure, just to name a few well-known culprits

3. Trans fat consumption: Trans fat is linked to a higher risk of memory impairment. It may act as a pro-oxidant, contributing to oxidative stress that causes cellular damage.

Vegetable oils oxidize when heated, and when oxidized cholesterol and trans fat enter into your LDL particles, they become destructive, contributing to arterial plaque buildup in your brain.

4. Imbalanced omega-3 to omega-6 ratio: Researchers have also found a link between Alzheimer’s and raised levels of an omega-6 fat called arachidonic acid.

They believe it interferes with the brain’s nerve cells, causing over-stimulation, and that lowering levels would allow the cells to function normally.

Most experts agree that the omega 6:3 ratio should range from 1:1 to 5:1. The sad reality is that it now ranges from 20 to 50:1 for most Americans.

Omega-6 fats are found in high concentrations in factory-farmed animals as they are typically fed grains, as well as vegetable oils such as corn, canola, soybean, and sunflower oils.

5. Slow-acting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) — the human form of Mad Cow disease, contracted either through:
   a. Contaminated meat
   b. Certain medical procedures, such as using human growth hormone extracted from the pituitary glands of infected human cadavers (a procedure now banned due to this contamination risk)

The first four have been discussed at length in previous articles. Here, we’ll focus on the last route, which has disturbing implications for the conventional meat industry.