Heart-clogging trans fats may put you at a higher risk of obesity, but researchers now say it’s dangerous for another reason: It could damage your memory.
A new study from the University of California San Francisco says that men who ate the highest amounts of trans fats struggled to recall more words, a part of cognition, by 10 percent.
Those who kept their trans fat intake to a minimum had near-perfect memory, however.
“The oxidizing effects of trans fats may cause brain cells important to memory to die off,” says Dr. Beatrice Golomb, a University of California San Diego professor of medicine. “At the same time, the energy-sapping effects of the trans fats may make brain cells more sluggish and less responsive. When cells don’t get enough energy, they’re essentially taken off line.”
In the study, Golomb and other researchers recruited a group of young and middle-aged men to eat varying amounts of trans fats, a type of fat commonly found in processed food products. Most of the men raised their trans fat intake by eating fast food, snacks, pizza, and baked sweets.
Ranking their trans fat intake from lowest to highest, researchers then had them take a memory test which tested their ability to recall words. Those who ate more trans fats had trouble recalling words, whereas those whose trans fat intake was the highest–about 15 grams–performed the worst. According to Golomb, they were unable to recall 10 percent of the words during the test, a “sizeable drop” for those tested.
“People were presented with a series of cards with words on them, and they had to decide if they were repeats, or newly-presented words,” says Golomb. “Each additional gram of trans fat consumed per day was associated with .76 fewer words recalled. That would be associated with 11 to 12 fewer words recalled.”
As for the reasons why trans fats may impact a person’s memory, Golomb believes that it may have an oxidative effect on brain cells–causing them to die off. And when more cells die, the more likely you’ll encounter memory problems.
“Foods are the things that support the health and function of cells, and anti-foods adversely affect that,” says Golomb. “Trans fats fall into that anti-food category.”
In essence, trans fats could be a brain killer.
What This Means For You
Want a sharper brain? Then it’s time to remove trans fats from your diet–for good. To keep your diet clean, health experts recommend avoiding fast food products, packaged foods, or foods artificially enhanced with sugar or fat, all products that contain unhealthy levels of trans fats.
In addition, Golomb recommends reading your food labels.
“People should read food labels and look for the word hydrogenated, or the word margarine or shortening, and avoid these foods as much as possible,” she says. “These are industrially produced fats that do not occur in nature.”
Readers: How clean is your diet?
Sources:
Some Fats Might Harm Your Memory – WebMD.com
Trans Fats May Sap Your Memory (Study) – Philly.com
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