Bigger Waistline Tied to Memory Decline

Finding yourself repeating what you’ve already said? Constantly looking for your misplaced glasses? Do you go upstairs to fetch something…only to forget what it was once you get there? These forgetful tendencies may not be the signs of senility, or advancing age. They may not be signs at all, but symptoms: the symptoms of a high fat diet.

Researchers from Arizona State University (Go Sun Devils!) and the School of Medicine at the University of South Carolina (Go Gamecocks!) decided they’d test the brain capacity of two groups of rats by feeding them two different diet plants fat-wise but similar calorically (they both gained the same amount of weight by study’s end). One of the group’s diets was composed of 10 percent saturated fat, with an additional two percent cholesterol-based. The other group’s diet was comparatively lower in saturated fat and cholesterol.

When the researchers analyzed the brains of these rats to see if there was any physiological change, there was indeed a greater sign of inflammation in the high-fat rats’ brains, a tell-tale sign of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s – perhaps the most well-known of degenerative brain diseases known for its ability to cause forgetfulness. But it wasn’t just the rats’ brain structure that took a negative turn; they also took a series of negative turns when put through a maze. Compared to the rats on a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, the high-fat rats basically fell on their face in the maze, with the low-fat rats performing much better.

Now, before you say, “Frank, these are rats! Rats aren’t humans!” consider the fact that another test on the link between memory loss and diet was also done on humans, and it revealed similar results.

When some Canadian researchers from the Toronto-based Baycrest Health Center tested the role of diet on memory capacity, they too grouped the participants, fed them different meals and then had them perform a memory-centric test. Instead of a maze, though, the men and women – all of whom were diagnosed with Type II diabetes – tried to recall as much information possible from a 90-minute reading comprehension test. They were given the test 15 minutes after their respective meals.

According to the researchers, the high fat foodies – those who ate the rather oddball combination of cheddar cheese, whipped cream and yogurt – performed significantly worse (25 percent) than those who had the control diets of either plain water, or a similar high fat diet supplemented with vitamins.

These findings buttress what I recently wrote in another article, that few things happen in the body in isolation. If one wants to eat unhealthy foods, even if it’s every once in a while, don’t expect it to only affect the waistline. The neurons in the brain don’t function as effectively when one’s diet is tied down by artery-clogging foods, plugging up blood and oxygen’s ability to reach the brain as arterial walls get tarred up with plaque.

Keep your memory in tact by keeping your diet on track. It sounds simplistic – the notion of eating right and preserving one’s memory – but there’s a lot of truth to the cliché that you are what you eat.