Good Lifestyle

With aging, many fear the onset on memory loss, which can eventually progress into more serious conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia. While it is understood that diet can directly impact your waistline, new data suggests that a certain type of popular food may also impact your risk of developing cognitive issues later in life. Read on to learn what daily snack choice may prompt signs of memory loss.

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Investigators at the Ohio State University recently published a study saBrain, Behavior, and Immunity, evaluating groups of older and younger rats that were fed highly processed food—as rats are so genetically similar to humans and have similar behavioral characteristics, they are often used in medical research. When sticking to this "junk food" diet of chips, frozen entrees, and deli meats for just one month, older rats showed signs of memory loss, failing behavioral tests by forgetting places they had been, and not showing fear when shown to danger cues. Interestingly, this was not observed in the younger rats.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

These issues are tied to the amygdala, the part of the brain that regulates emotion, and the hippocampus, the part involved in learning and memory. Unlike younger rats, older rats eating the same highly processed diet had inflammatory responses in both of these brain regions.

"The amygdala in humans has been implicated in memories associated with emotional—fear and anxiety-producing—events. If this region of the brain is dysfunctional, cues that predict danger may be missed and could lead to bad decisions," Ruth M. Barrientos, PhD, the study's senior author, an investigator for the Ohio State University Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral health, said in a statement.

"The fact we're seeing these effects so quickly is a little bit alarming," she added, highlighting the importance of study findings for older adults, where memory decline is more likely to progress into neurodegenerative diseases and Alzheimer's disease, specifically.

You might feel the need to immediately purge your pantry of cookies and potato chips and restock your fridge with fruits and veggies over microwavable meals, but further findings may restore some faith. In addition to a the control group, which were fed their normal diet of protein, wheat-based complex carbs, and fat, investigators also evaluated a group of rats that were fed a processed diet supplemented with foods rich in omega-3 fatty acid DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid.

DHA is found in fish such as salmon and tuna, and it has been shown to protect against this inflammatory response in the brain. In the study, for example, older rats that had DHA supplementation of their processed-food diets did not have the same elevated inflammatory response or memory loss as those without supplementation.

Research has shown people who eat diets that include seafood have lower risk of chronic diseases, but scientists continue to study how taking in these fatty acids affect overall health. According to Barrientos, limiting the consumption of processed foods and swapping them for more of these DHA-rich options may be helpful in slowing, or even stopping, progression to serious disease. However, she also added a note of caution about balancing out those frozen pizzas and sugary cereals by simply adding in more fish or a DHA supplement.

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While there were positive results observed between inflammatory response and DHA, researchers were unsure of the exact dosage of DHA. The supplementation also had no preventative effect on Dagdag timbang in those primarily eating processed foods. In fact, all rats on the processed-food diet gained weight, whether they were supplemented or not. And as another unfortunate consequence of aging, this was was more pronounced in older rats than younger rats.

Hindi lahatprocessed foods are bad, however—milk needs to be processed to remove bacteria and make it safe to consume, at ang mga binhi ay naproseso upang gumawa ng langis. Ayon sa pambansang instituto ng kalusugan, tumakbo ka sa problema kapag naproseso ang mga pagkain ay may labis na antas ng asukal, asin, at taba na idinagdag para sa lasa o upang pahabain ang kanilang buhay sa istante. Ang mga produktong ito ay maaaring magkaroon ng isang Label na nag-claim ng mga benepisyo sa kalusugan , gamit ang mga salitang tulad ng "lite" o "mababang taba," ngunit ang mga nakatagong additives at carbohydrates ay maaaring pumipinsala. "Ito ang mga uri ng mga diet na na-advertise bilang mababa sa taba, ngunit ang mga ito ay lubos na naproseso. Wala silang hibla at may pinong carbohydrates na kilala rin bilang mababang kalidad na carbohydrates," sabi ni Barrientos. "Ang mga tao na ginagamit sa pagtingin sa nutritional na impormasyon ay kailangang magbayad ng pansin sa hibla at kalidad ng carbohydrates. Ang pag-aaral na ito ay talagang nagpapakita ng mga bagay na iyon ay mahalaga."

Kaugnay: Ang pagkain ng isang pagkain ay nagbabawas ng panganib ng iyong Alzheimer, sabi ng bagong pag-aaral