Eating a diet high in sugar and fat isn’t good for your waistline–but now new research from Oregon State University reveals its effects don’t just stop there.
According to new research by scientists from the university, high-fat and high-sugar diets cause unfavorable changes in gut bacteria, reducing something called “cognitive flexibility”–eventually worsening a person’s short-term and long-term memory.
The research appears in the current issue of Neuroscience.
“Bacteria can release compounds that act as neurotransmitters, stimulate sensory nerves or the immune system, and affect a wide range of biological functions,” says Kathy Magnusson, D.V.M., Ph.D., lead researcher of the study and a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Linus Pauling Institute’s College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State. “We’re not sure just what messages are being sent, but we are tracking down the pathways and the effects.”
Using 2-month-old male mice for the study, researchers had them consume one of the following diets: A high-fat diet, a low-fat diet, or a normal chow diet. Before the study began, researchers also analyzed their feces to measure the composition of bacteria in their gut.
Their short- and long-term memory capabilities were also measured with a series of tests.
Then, as they ate their diet, researchers continued to measure their cognition and gut bacteria composition, looking for any changes. They also measured these components after the diets ended.
So what did they find? Simple: Eating a high-fat or high-sugar diet worsened their cognition significantly more than those who ate a normal diet. The composition of their gut bacteria also changed, suggesting both factors were interlinked.
“We’ve known for a while that too much fat and sugar are not good for you,” says Magnusson. “This work suggests that fat and sugar are altering your healthy bacterial systems, and that’s one of the reasons those foods aren’t good for you. It’s not just the food that could be influencing your brain, but an interaction between the food and microbial changes.”
This hasn’t been the first time these diets have been associated with cognitive problems. Previous studies have also found that eating a Western-style diet, which emphasizes a higher consumption of sugar and fat, increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia. Other studies found that people with worse cognitive function primarily ate high-fat, high-sugar diets as well.
This study is one of the first to indicate the problem may also involve the gut, however.
“These results suggest that changes in the microbiome may contribute to cognitive changes associated with eating a Western diet,” write researchers in Neuroscience.
What This Means For You
Science has proved it time and time again: Eating too much sugar and fat just isn’t good for you. Now with mounting evidence that it can also affect your cognition, there hasn’t been a better time to remove these potentially harmful nutrients from your diet.
Readers: How much fat and sugar do you typically consume?
Sources:
Diets High in Fat, Sugar May Reduce Cognitive Functioning By Altering Gut Bacteria – MedicalNewsToday.com
Relationships Between Diet-Related Changes in the Gut Microbiome and Cognitive Flexibility (Study) – ScienceDirect.com
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