Everyone knows that eating foods high in fat can make you fat but new studies have come up indicating that foods high in fat can also put one at an intellectual disadvantage.
The next time you look at a big bowl of deep fried chocolate bars, then you may need to take a step back.
A new research shows that ingested fat breaks down neurons in a person's brain. That translates to dumbing the intellectual capacity of a person.
In this study, researchers used a group of mice. The mice were sectioned into two different groups. One group was fed with high fat diet. The other group was fed with low fat diet. After three months, results coming from the high fat diet fed mice showed that they were obese and have lost synapses. A synapse is a structure that permits a neuron in the body to pass a chemical or electrical signal to another neuron.
The following scientific results have been found from the study:
1. Dietary obesity impairs hippocampus-dependent memory and long-term potentiation.
2. High fat diet promotes anatomical simplification and induction of activation markers in hippocampal microglia.
3. Diet reversal reinstates microglial quiescence and normalizes hippocampal function.
4. Primary microglia from mice with dietary obesity exhibited selective increases in synaptic phagocytosis.
Too many medical words? In summary, Dr. Alexis M. Stranahan, of the Medical College of Georgia, explains that when one is obese, the brain cells stop moving and starts to eat the synapses. "When microglia (brain cells) start eating synapses, the mice don't learn as effectively." His study is cited in Brain, Behavior and Immunity journals.
Don't lose hope though, burger lovers! The damage can still be undone.
When they put the mice back on a low-fat diet, brain function resumes to normal processes, as reported.
