Studies Suggest Red Meat May Help Prevent Alzheimer’s

Must even steak be politicised? The American Heart Association recently recommended eating more “plant-based” protein in a move to counter the Health and Human Services Department’s new guidelines calling for more red meat.

Few would argue that eating a Big Mac a day is good for you.

On the other hand, growing evidence, including a study last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that eating more meat—particularly unprocessed red meat—can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s in the quarter or so of people with a particular genetic predisposition.

The APOE4 gene variant is one of the biggest risk factors for Alzheimer’s.

You inherit one copy of the APOE gene from each parent. The most common variant is APOE3; the least is APOE2.

The latter carries a lower risk of Alzheimer’s, while the former is neutral. A quarter of people carry one copy of the APOE4 variant, and about 2% carry two.

APOE4 is more common among people with Northern European and African ancestry. In Europe the variant increases with latitude, and is present in as many as 27% of people in northern countries versus 4% in southern ones. God smiled on the Italians and Greeks.

For unknown reasons, the APOE4 variant increases the risk of Alzheimer’s far more for women than men.

Women’s risk multiplies roughly fourfold if they have one copy and tenfold if they have two. Men with a single copy show little if any higher risk, while those with two face four times the risk.

What makes APOE4 so pernicious? Scientists don’t know exactly, but the variant is also associated with higher cholesterol levels—even among thin people who eat healthily.

Scientists have found that cholesterol builds up in brain cells of APOE4 carriers, which can disrupt communications between neurons and generate amyloid plaque, an Alzheimer’s hallmark.

The Heart Association’s recommendation to eat less red meat may be sound advice for people with high cholesterol caused by indulgent diets.

But a diet high in red meat may be better for the brains of APOE4 carriers.

In the JAMA study, researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute examined how diet, particularly meat consumption, affects dementia risk among seniors with the different APOE variants.

Higher consumption of meat, especially unprocessed red meat, was associated with significantly lower dementia risk for APOE4 carriers.

APOE4 carriers who consumed the most meat—the equivalent of 4.5 ounces a day—were no more likely to develop dementia than noncarriers. (

The study controlled for other variables that are known to affect Alzheimer’s risk including sex, age, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and education.)

APOE4 carriers who ate the most unprocessed meat were at significantly lower risk of dying over the study’s 15-year period and had lower cholesterol than carriers who ate less. Go figure. Noncarriers, however, didn’tenjoy similar benefits from eating more red meat.

The study’s findings are consistent with two large U.K. studies.

One found that each additional 50 grams of red meat (equivalent to half a hamburger patty) that an APOE4 carrier consumed each day was associated with a 36% reduced risk of dementia.

The other found that older women who carried the APOE4 variant and consumed at least one serving a day of unprocessed red meat had a cognitive advantage over carriers who ate less than half a serving, and that this advantage was of roughly equal magnitude to the cognitive disadvantage observed among APOE4 carriers in general.

In all three studies, eating more red meat appeared to negate the increased genetic risk of APOE4.

Perhaps one reason men with the variant are at lower Alzheimer’s risk than women is that men eat more red meat.

These findings might cause chagrin to women who rag their husbands about ordering the rib-eye instead of the heart-healthy salmon.

But remember, the cognitive benefits of eating more red meat appear isolated to APOE4 carriers.

Nutrition is complicated, and categorical recommendations—other than perhaps to avoid nutritionally devoid foods—would best be avoided by governments and health bodies.

Readers can order an at-home test from any number of companies to screen for the APOE4 variant.

The Swedish researchers hypothesize that APOE4 carriers may be evolutionarily adapted to carnivorous diets, since the variant is believed to have emerged between one million and six million years ago during a “hypercarnivorous” period in human history.

The other two APOE variants originated more recently, during eras when humans ate more plants.

APOE4 carriers may absorb more nutrients from meat than plants, the researchers surmise. Vitamin B12—low levels have been associated with cognitive decline—isn’t naturally present in plant-based foods but is abundant in red meat.

Foods high in phytates (such as grains and beans) can interfere with absorption of zinc and iron (also high in red meat), which naturally declines with age. So maybe don’t chuck your steak yet.

A collection of only 18 full-floor and two-storey residences has launched on one of the Gold Coast’s most tightly held stretches of beachfront.

AMALI will rise 22 levels at 3535–3537 Main Beach Parade, occupying an 810sqm site with no road separating the building from the sand.

Prices begin at $10.2 million for the three-bedroom full-floor residences, while the development’s two-storey penthouses are being offered from $25 million. Completion is anticipated in early 2029.

The project has received development approval and is being delivered by Eastment Group of Companies, the developer behind the nearby AMANI Main Beach. Core Property Partners is overseeing project strategy, development and construction management.

Bayden Goddard’s BGD Architects has designed the tower, with interiors by multidisciplinary studio Tom Mark Henry and landscaping by Arcadia Landscape Architecture. Kollosche New Projects is handling sales and marketing.

Eighteen residences across 22 levels

Rather than maximising the number of apartments on the beachfront parcel, AMALI has been designed around privacy, space and a low resident population.

The tower will contain 16 full-floor residences and two two-level penthouses. Each home will have uninterrupted views over the Pacific Ocean and private lift access, giving residents an arrival experience more closely associated with a standalone house.

The standard full-floor residences will provide approximately 378sqm of space, with three bedrooms, three bathrooms and parking for two cars. Prices start at $10.2 million.

With only one residence occupying each typical level, the floor plans have been designed to capture natural light, ocean breezes and views in several directions. Generous living spaces will transition into outdoor areas overlooking the beach, creating a direct visual relationship with the coastline.

The two penthouses will extend across two levels and offer approximately 898sqm, with four bedrooms, five bathrooms and four parking spaces each.

Priced from $25 million, each penthouse will also have access to a private rooftop domain incorporating an entertaining lounge, bar, kitchen, terrace and swimming pool. From this elevated position, views will extend across both the ocean and the Gold Coast skyline.

Architecture informed by the coastline

AMALI’s architecture has been conceived as a restrained response to its beachfront setting.

The 22-storey form uses curved edges and layered horizontal elements to soften the tower’s profile, while extensive glazing opens the residences towards the ocean.

Inside, Tom Mark Henry has developed a palette based on the colours and textures of the coast. Natural stone and warm timber veneers will be combined with bronze and brushed-brass detailing, bespoke materials and sculptural lighting.

The approach is intended to create homes that are highly finished without feeling overly formal. Earthy tones and tactile materials will provide warmth, while expansive glazing and open living areas keep the ocean as the primary visual feature.

Private lift access, large floor plates and the absence of shared residential corridors on the typical levels reinforce the project’s emphasis on discretion.

Wellness on the beachfront

Residents will have access to a dedicated wellness precinct anchored by a heated infinity-edge pool overlooking the beach.

The facilities will also include a fully equipped gym, steam room and hot and cold plunge pools, combining exercise and recovery spaces within the building.

Direct beachfront access will allow residents to move from the development to the sand without crossing Main Beach Parade—one of the project’s defining points of difference.

The design positions these shared amenities as an extension of the beachfront lifestyle rather than a separate resort-style podium. With only 18 households using them, the spaces are also expected to offer a greater degree of privacy than facilities in larger apartment towers.

A tightly held Main Beach position

AMALI’s site is within walking distance of the Tedder Avenue dining and retail precinct and a short drive from Marina Mirage, Southport Yacht Club and the broader Main Beach marina district.

The location also places it near a growing cluster of luxury hotel, residential and lifestyle projects reshaping the northern end of the central Gold Coast.

Main Beach has become an increasingly important prestige-apartment market, supported by its relative scarcity of absolute beachfront development sites and proximity to both the ocean and Broadwater.

AMALI enters that market at its highest end. Its $10.2 million entry price positions even the standard residences firmly within the trophy-apartment category, while the two penthouses will compete with the most expensive new residences being offered on the Gold Coast.

The development follows AMANI, another boutique Main Beach project involving Eastment Group, BGD Architects and Core Property Partners. That continuity has allowed the team to carry a similar focus on large residences and limited apartment numbers into an absolute beachfront setting.

Sales are being led by Michael Kollosche and Harry Kakavas of Kollosche New Projects, with private presentations available through the project’s Broadbeach display suite.

With development approval secured and completion targeted for early 2029, AMALI’s launch adds just 18 buying opportunities to a beachfront market where scarcity is part of the proposition.

Its combination of full-floor living, private lift access and direct connection to the sand places the project somewhere between a luxury apartment tower and a collection of elevated beachfront houses—an increasingly sought-after model at the top of the Gold Coast market.

Studies Suggest Red Meat May Help Prevent Alzheimer’s

At least for people who carry the APOE4 genetic variant, a juicy steak could keep the brain healthy.