Follow for a long time a diet rich in fatty foods Not only does it increase your waistline, but it also wreaks havoc on your brain, according to new research published in the journal “Metabolic Brain Disease.”
The international study led by UniSA neuroscientists Professor Xin-Fu Zhou and Associate Professor Larisa Bobrovskaya has established a clear link between mice fed a high-fat diet for 30 weeks, which went on to develop diabetes, and impaired in their cognitive abilities, including the appearance of anxiety, depression and worsening of Alzheimer’s disease.
Mice with impaired cognitive function were also more likely to gain weight due to poor metabolism caused by changes in the brain.
The research adds to the growing body of evidence linking chronic obesity and diabetes to Alzheimer’s disease, which is projected to reach 100 million cases by 2050, says UniSA neuroscientist and biochemist Larisa Bobrovskaya.
“Obesity and diabetes damage the central nervous system, exacerbating psychiatric disorders and cognitive decline. We showed this in our study with mice,” says Professor Bobrovskaya.
In the study, mice were randomly assigned to a standard or high-fat diet for 30 weeks, beginning at eight weeks of age. Food intake, body weight, and glucose levels were monitored at different intervals, along with tests of glucose and insulin tolerance and cognitive dysfunction.
The animals that followed the high-fat diet gained a lot of weight, developed resistance to insulin and began to behave abnormally compared to those fed a standard diet.
The genetically modified mice with Alzheimer’s disease also showed significant impairment in cognition and pathological changes in the brain while fed a high-fat diet.
“Obese people have a 55 percent increased risk of developing depression, and diabetes will double that risk. Our findings underscore the importance of addressing the global obesity epidemic. It is very likely that a combination of obesity, age and diabetes leads to decreased cognitive abilities, Alzheimer’s disease and other mental health disorders,” says Bobrovskaya.