Fat and Fiber Consumption, Sociocultural Factors Influencing Food Choices, and Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease in Alabama, USA, and Cape Town, South Africa
Abstract
Gut-brain research, that focuses on the bidirectional connections of the gastrointestinal tract and the brain, has found increased concentrations of lipopolysaccharides, acetate, valerate, and proinflammatory cytokines, and decreased concentrations of butyrate in the gut of people with sporadic (type most affected by lifestyle) Alzheimer’s disease. A high-fat and low-fiber diet contributes to this clinical presentation of the gut. In food deserts (areas with severely limited access to affordable fresh produce of nutritional quality), people consuming this type of diet would be expected to have a high prevalence of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease. While this is the case for Alabama, the state with the highest mortality rate due to Alzheimer’s disease in the USA, Cape Town in South Africa, also a food desert, has the lowest worldwide prevalence of the disease. To address this paradox, this study examined three research questions comparing the fat and fiber consumption of 375 participants from Alabama and 379 participants from Cape Town; sociocultural factors that might affect their nutritional decisions; and whether fat and fiber consumption was correlated with these sociocultural factors that influence food choices. Results showed that both Alabama, and Cape Town participants consume more fat than fiber in their diets, and that they make their food choices primarily based on their mood. The more fat participants consumed, the more likely they were to be making food choices based on the sensory appeal of the food in Alabama, and the less likely they were to do so in Cape Town.
Subject Area
Health sciences|Psychology|Food Science|Public health|Nutrition
Recommended Citation
Spyropoulos, Daphne Catherine, "Fat and Fiber Consumption, Sociocultural Factors Influencing Food Choices, and Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease in Alabama, USA, and Cape Town, South Africa" (2023). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30250374.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30250374
