Monday is the second day of this year's Alzheimer's Association International Conference. More than 8,000 researchers from around the world are attending, including more than 60 from St. Louis.
One of the many studies presented this week focuses on the impact of racism on cognitive decline. Sarah Lovegreen, Vice President of Programs at the Alzheimer's Association of Greater Missouri, joined KMOX to talk about some of the studies being presented and their implications.
One study looked at how diet impacts cognitive health.
"This is a field of study that's been building over the past several years," she said. "And this study in particular found that those who consume the highest amount of these ultra-processed foods have a 28% faster decline in cognitive scores."
She also discussed the study that looked at the connections between experiencing racism and cognitive decline.
"For individuals who are reporting more experiences of racism throughout their life course, there's a higher level of cognitive decline and lower memory scores in a couple of different populations, but in particular, by Black individuals," she said. "So we kind of can see these two items linked together a little bit. We knew when it came to Black Americans and Hispanic Americans who are more likely to experience Alzheimer's and dementia, that it's not because of genetics."
Lovegreen explained that this research shows that it's more about social determinants that have an impact on cognitive health.
Listen to the rest of her conversation on Total Information AM:
