Only a relatively small cohort study admitting of robust discussion but a precautionarily note to those who tend to be certain well ahead of mature evidence. Fascinating.
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CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this study, higher meat consumption was associated with better cognitive trajectoires and lower dementia risk among individuals with APOE34/44 genotypes.
It seems that they didn’t adjust for income, wealth or socio-economic status. But they adjusted for education. Might be enough 
But otherwise it can just be wealthier ~ eat more meat ~ healthier.
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Intriguing study, isn’t it. Because health research on humans presents so many practical challenges, I often find myself focused on weaknesses in design, methodology, execution, etc. Those points can be made about this study but the findings cannot be dismissed entirely in my opinion. My overall reading is that this is a serious, thoughtfully designed observational study, but not one that by itself overturns prevailing dietary views. At the least, it is a hypothesis-generating paper pointing to a potentially real APOE-dependent heterogeneity in diet response, rather than as evidence that high meat intake is generally neuroprotective.
The key signal is not “meat is good for cognition” in the population at large; it is “among older APOE E3/E4 and E4/E4 carriers in this Swedish cohort, higher meat intake tracked with better cognitive trajectories, while processed meat still looked unfavorable.
But even that summary might understate what might lie below these findings. For one, the healthy user bias is on the table but is not an all-encompassing fit. Cognitive reserve, which tracks closely with educational attainment, is in play and more so because the endpoint was functional and did not examine brain deterioration. We know that those with high cognitive reserve can often function normally with advanced structural deterioration, and vice versa.
Other things that come to mind include noting that the meat is sourced in Sweden. I wonder if we would see the same results in a study conducted in the US, with our low standards for beef, poultry, and pork. I also wonder what the breakout between E4/E3 and E4/E4 looks like. As for the broad question, “Is high meat intake somehow neuroprotective,” I wonder if we have looked at that question sufficiently.
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