Teenagers with junk food-filled diets are causing long-term damage to their brains, a new study has revealed.
New research suggests that teens who feast on high-fat sugary diets are destroying their memory, with the effects seen well into adulthood.
The study, to be published in the May issue of the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, builds on previous evidence linking poor diet and Alzheimer’s disease.
People who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease tend to have lower levels of a signaling molecule called acetylcholine in the brain— which is essential for memory, learning, attention, arousal and involuntary muscle movement.
To see if a fat-fuelled diet would cause the same damage in youth, while their brains are still developing, the team tracked the acetylcholine levels in rats with different diets and put them through a memory test.
The memory test used involved letting the rats explore a new space, then days later bringing them back with one new object added to the area.
Rats on the junk food diet showed signs they could not remember which object they had previously seen, and where, while those on a healthier diet showed familiarity.
The researchers believe fast food diets are especially harmful for teenagers as they are still developing, making the effects harder to reverse.
Originally published by Talker News