Australian researchers discovered that consuming too much junk food can have detrimental effects on a person’s brain.
The study conducted in the University of New South Wales, suggests that obesity caused by poor diet can trigger rapid changes in the brain and cause it to inflame the area associated with memory.
Published in the academic journal Brain, the study revealed that rats fed with high levels of fat and sugar had impaired memory after a week, as they found it more difficult to recognise certain places.
Similarly, rats that were given a healthy diet, but sugar water to drink, were faced with the same problem.
“We know that obesity causes inflammation in the body, but we didn't realise until recently that it also causes changes in the brain,” said Professor Margaret Morris, who co-authored the study.
“What is so surprising about this research is the speed with which the deterioration of the cognition occurred,” she added, as she expressed her concern for the fact that the inflammation caused by poor diets is irreversible.
Further study will attempt to discover how to stop inflammation in the brain of animals that have unhealthy diets. This could help solve the problem in humans with poor diets as well, which will help improve memory.
