Processed food diet dangerous for memory: Study

Anew study has found that four weeks on a highly processed food diet leads to a strong inflammatory response in the brains of ageing rats that was accompanied by behavioural signs of memory loss. Researchers also found that supplementing the processed diet with the omega-3 fatty acid DHA prevented memory problems and almost entirely reduced inflammatory effects in older rats. The research has been published in the journal Brain, Behaviour, and Immunity. Neuroinflammation and cognitive problems were not detected in young adult rats that ate the processed diet.

The study diet mimicked ready-to-eat human foods that are often packaged for long shelf lives, such as potato chips and other snacks, frozen entrees like pasta dishes and pizzas, and deli meats containing preservatives. Highly processed diets are also associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes, suggesting older consumers might want to scale back on convenience foods and add foods rich in DHA, such as salmon, to their diets, researchers say — especially considering harm to the aged brain in this study was evident in only four weeks. “The fact that we're seeing these effects so quickly is a little bit alarming,” said senior study author Ruth Barrientos, an investigator in The Ohio State University Institute for

Behavioural Medicine Research and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioural health.

“These findings indicate that consumption of a processed diet can produce significant and abrupt memory deficits and in the ageing population, rapid memory decline has a greater likelihood of progressing into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.” Barriento’ lab studies how everyday life events — such as surgery, an infection or, in this case, an unhealthy diet — might trigger inflammation in the ageing brain. —ANI