Of course you know that foods loaded with fat and sugar aren’t great
for your weight. But a new Australian study published in the scientific
journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity suggests another reason to skip out on junk: It may mess with your memory.
Full disclosure, the study was done on rats – so at this point, we can’t be sure the results apply to humans. But the findings are definitely worth taking into account. For the study, researchers gave rats either a healthy diet along with an unlimited amount of sugar water; a diet consisting of unlimited biscuits and cakes; or a totally healthy diet. After one week, only the rats in the junk food group had gained weight, but both the sugar-water group and the junk-food group showed signs of memory impairment (the healthy group didn’t gain weight or have any memory lapses).
Why? The researchers found that in both the sugar-water and the junk-food groups, the high amount of sugar had caused the hippocampus, which is the brain’s memory center, to become inflamed – meaning it couldn’t work to capacity. And interestingly, after the rats returned to a healthy diet, the inflammation still lasted for an additional three weeks.
Point is, it’s not just weight gain; junk food is called that for a reason – it’s just no good. Ever. Not only does it make you gain weight, but it may even mess with your memory. So don’t let it!
Full disclosure, the study was done on rats – so at this point, we can’t be sure the results apply to humans. But the findings are definitely worth taking into account. For the study, researchers gave rats either a healthy diet along with an unlimited amount of sugar water; a diet consisting of unlimited biscuits and cakes; or a totally healthy diet. After one week, only the rats in the junk food group had gained weight, but both the sugar-water group and the junk-food group showed signs of memory impairment (the healthy group didn’t gain weight or have any memory lapses).
Why? The researchers found that in both the sugar-water and the junk-food groups, the high amount of sugar had caused the hippocampus, which is the brain’s memory center, to become inflamed – meaning it couldn’t work to capacity. And interestingly, after the rats returned to a healthy diet, the inflammation still lasted for an additional three weeks.
Point is, it’s not just weight gain; junk food is called that for a reason – it’s just no good. Ever. Not only does it make you gain weight, but it may even mess with your memory. So don’t let it!
