More than 6 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, a number that is projected to double by 2060.
The rise is attributed to several factors, many of them preventable — including unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles.
California gastroenterologist Dr. Saurabh Sethi has highlighted some popular drinks that could be partly to blame, picking out three that he says increase a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s.
Diet soda
“A lot of health-conscious people drink diet soda, but it is really not good for the brain,” said Sethi.
He explained that while many think of diet soda as a “healthy” substitute, it is sweetened with aspartame, which “is bad for your gut bacteria, and there is a strong gut-brain connection.”
Previous research has established that artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, are toxic to gut bacteria. Scientists maintain that gut bacteria influence inflammation in the body, which also affects the blood supply to the brain.
A study from the Florida State University (FSU) College of Medicine linked aspartame consumption to potential problems with memory and learning.
In the study, male mice that consumed aspartame — even at levels deemed safe by the FDA — had offspring that “demonstrated spatial learning and memory deficits.”
Previous research found that people who drank at least one artificially sweetened drink a day were 2.9 times as likely to develop dementia.
In 2024, a committee within the World Health Organization (WHO) released a statement classifying the sweetener as “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” a claim that industry experts have vehemently denied.
Alcohol
In a surprise to no one, Sethi says booze is bad news for the body.
Recent research revealed that any amount of alcohol consumption could increase drinkers’ risk of more than 60 diseases.
“Alcohol negatively impacts gut bacteria and liver health, plus it also impairs sleep, which is crucial for brain health,” said Sethi.
A 2021 Harvard Medical School study found that people who log less than five hours of slumber a night are twice as likely to develop dementia than those who sleep six to eight hours.
While alcohol may make people feel drowsy, it disrupts the crucial deep sleep stage.
Slow-wave sleep (SWS) — also known as deep sleep — lasts roughly 20 to 40 minutes and precedes REM sleep. Experts agree that SWS is critical to the body’s restoration and growth, bolstering the immune system, strengthening muscles and bones, slowing brain activity and reducing blood pressure.
Researchers found that patients who lost just 1% of their slow-wave sleep each year were 27% more likely to develop dementia than their deep-sleeping cohorts.
In addition to sleep disruption, alcohol can contribute to obesity, which is a “gateway disease” to a multitude of cancers and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
“Consuming alcohol can have many negative effects on the brain, especially in people over the age of 65,” Dr. Arjun Masurkar, a cognitive neurologist and dementia specialist at NYU Langone Health, previously told The Post. “Therefore, I recommend my patients consume a maximum of one alcoholic beverage a day, preferably none.”
Sports drinks
Third in Sethi’s unholy trinity of dementia drinks are sports drinks.
“These drinks are generally very high in sugar, and a lack of fiber in these drinks leads to the quick absorption of sugar, spiking blood glucose and insulin levels, contributing to insulin resistance, which in turn increases Alzheimer’s risk.”
Diabetics tend to be at greater risk for Alzheimer’s because high blood sugar can damage blood vessels in the brain and spur inflammation. Obesity has also been linked to chronic inflammation.
Previous research has shown that too much sugar from products like sports drinks leads to glucose build-up in bits of the brain, which has been linked to Alzheimer’s.
