Scientists from the UNC School of Medicine recently discovered that junk food disrupts memory circuits in the brain almost instantaneously.
Within just four days, neurons in the hippocampus became overactive with the result of impairing a human’s memory.
According to ScienceDaily, by restoring glucose, it calmed the neurons, showing that interventions such as fasting or dietary shifts can restore brain health and also protect against long-term cognitive decline.
By the same token, this can help prevent (obesity-related) dementia and Alzheimer’s.
New research study published in ‘Neuron’
This new study from UNC School of Medicine researchers is titled “Targeting glucose-inhibited hippocampal CCK interneurons prevents cognitive impairment in diet-induced obesity” and it was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal “Neuron.”
It was led by Dr. Juan Song, a principal investigator and professor of pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine, and Dr. Taylor Landry. They discovered that a “special group of brain cells in the hippocampus called CCK interneurons, become overly active after eating a high-fat diet (HFD), due to an impaired ability of the brain to receive glucose (sugar).”
This is a substantial indication that a poor diet may adversely impact the human brain a lot more than we think. On a lighter and more positive note, this new research study suggests that early interventions can “prevent even long-term memory loss” that is linked with obesity.
Findings of the Brain Health Study
In this brain health study, mice were fed a high-fat diet (similar to junk food) before they underwent behavioral tests.
Speaking of this junk food diet, it resembled a typical Western-style food that is rich in saturated fat such as cheeseburgers and fries; moreover, research displayed that a protein called PKM2, which “controls how brain cells use energy,” also plays a pivotal role in this problem.
After only four days on this diet, according to SciTechDaily, researchers observed that CCK interneurons in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center, became “unusually active.”
These findings were indicative that fatty junk foods can begin altering brain function almost instantly, long before weight gain or even Diabetes develops.
In her research Dr. Song stated that they knew that “diet and metabolism can affect brain health,” but they “didn’t expect to find a specific and vulnerable group of brain cells (CCK interneurons) that were affected by this exposure” in a matter of four days.
“What surprised us most was how quickly these cells changed their activity in response to reduced glucose availability, and how this shift alone was enough to impair memory,” Song stated in her study.
Intermittent fasting and medicine can help improve memory function
Dr. Song found that using medicine or intermittent fasting periods after a high-fat diet is substantial to help normalize CCK interneurons, as well as to help improve memory function, and lower the risk of obesity and metabolic disorders.
Ongoing research
This research is ongoing, in an effort to help understand how these “glucose-sensitive neurons” scramble brain rhythms that support memory.
Scientists are planning to test whether these targeted therapies could be translated into humans and how a high-fat diet could be a factor in Alzheimer’s disease.
They will also explore lifestyle-based interventions such as dietary patterns that stabilize brain glucose, to see if they offer protective benefits.
Conclusion
All in all, this brain health study underscored how strong memory circuits respond to diet, so it stresses the crucial role of nutrition in supporting brain health.
Researchers found that consuming a high-fat diet that was high in saturated fats can increase the risk of developing such “neurodegenerative conditions” as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
