Yahoo Lifestyle This Common Habit May Accelerate Cognitive Decline After Just Three Days
Oh, good: Yet another common habit, especially among Americans, can accelerate cognitive decline—and this time, it may take as little as three days to show the negative brain health impacts.
According to a new study from Ohio State University, this specific habit—which is convenient and, honestly, usually really enjoyable—may quickly increase brain inflammation in older patients, plus metabolic and gut health impacts down the road. What is it, and should you actually be worried? Well, it's (sort of) complicated. We'll break it all down for you.
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The Common Habit That May Accelerate Cognitive Decline After Just Three Days
In a study conducted on groups of rats (one older and one younger), researchers fed rats a high-fat diet for three days, while another group (again, divided into young and old rats) ate a high-fat diet for three months.
Older rats showed signs of brain inflammation after just three days of eating a high-fat diet, though younger rats' brain health appeared unaffected.
All groups of rats who ate high-fat diets for three months showed negative changes in gut bacteria, gut health and metabolic health, including dysregulated blood sugar and insulin levels. Older rats showed more brain inflammation after three months as well.
Diets in the study had 60% of calories coming from fat, which Neuroscience News reports is equivalent to the amount in a Burger King Double Whopper with cheese or a McDonald's Double Smoky BLT Quarter Pounder with cheese.
Related: The One Thing To Avoid Eating For Your Brain Health
Researchers conducted tests on two separate parts of the brain and types of memory: The hippocampus (the main memory center of the brain) and the amygdala, which is where the "cued fear memory" is centered (and can trigger fear, anxiety, fight-or-flight response and threat detection).
"These diets lead to obesity-related changes in both young and old animals, yet young animals appear more resilient to the high-fat diet’s effects on memory. We think it is likely due to their ability to activate compensatory anti-inflammatory responses, which the aged animals lack," Dr. Ruth Barrientos, Ph.D., study lead author, investigator at Ohio State University's Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral health and neuroscience at Ohio State University College of Medicine, said. "Also, with glucose, insulin and adipose inflammation all increased in both young and old animals, there's no way to distinguish what is causing memory impairment in only old animals if you look only at what's happening in the body. It's what is happening in the brain that's important for the memory response."
Related: What Is the Worst Food for Brain Health?
OK, But What Does This Rat Study Have to Do With Me?
Maybe nothing! (Hopefully, anyway!) However, researchers note that the study's purpose was to show that high-fat diets may impact health, including brain health, outside of obesity—and that research must be done to see the impacts of our diet and nutrition on our brains and the rest of our bodies, regardless of how much we weigh.
"Unhealthy diets and obesity are linked, but they are not inseparable," Dr. Barrientos said. "We're really looking for the effects of the diet directly on the brain. We showed that within three days, long before obesity sets in, tremendous neuroinflammatory shifts are occurring."
"Changes in the body in all animals are happening more slowly and aren't actually necessary to cause the memory impairments and changes in the brain," Dr. Barrientos added. "We never would have known that brain inflammation is the primary cause of high-fat diet-induced memory impairments without comparing the two timelines."
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