I had the grace to conduct my doctoral internship in a wonderful church in Houston.  It's an incredible church.  I deliberately conducted a low-key program so that the church would not become divided between the food plan followers and the non-followers.  One of the non-followers was a tiny, very old, beautifully turned out woman who made it clear that she wasn't interested in the food plan.  She thoroughly enjoyed an enormous piece of chocolate pie at every pot luck.

Then one, night she didn't make it home.  She had become confused.  After several such episodes, her daughter moved her away from her friends to another part of town where she was put in a nursing home.

I knew the pie and the confusion were related but I didn't know how.  Now I know,  Gary Taube's new book Good Calories, Bad Calories explains that there are two mechanisms by which refined foods cause dementia.  The first is elevated blood sugar that makes the blood thick.  This bursts small capalaries including those in the brain.  This means that brain cells are not fed and they die.  The second mechanism is a bit more complicated.  The insulin that is released to correct the high blood sugar appears to interfere with the ability of the brain to clean itself.  Debris from the break down of proteins in the brain is cleared by an enzyme.  However, if insulin is present, the enzyme doesn't work.

As if we needed more motivation to stop eating refined foods!