By: Ian Sample Science editor | Researchers find a western-style diet can impair brain function | Neuroscience | The Guardian
After a week on a high fat, high added sugar diet, volunteers scored worse on memory tests
Consuming a western diet for as little as one week can subtly impair brain function and encourage slim and otherwise healthy young people to overeat, scientists claim.
Researchers found that after seven days on a high fat, high added sugar diet, volunteers in their 20s scored worse on memory tests and found junk food more desirable immediately after they had finished a meal.
The Western-style diet is characterized by the consumption of highly processed and refined foods, high contents of sugars, salt, and fat and protein from red meat. It has been identified as a major contributor to the development of obesity-related diseases including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. The Western-style diet has also been associated with an increased incidence of chronic kidney disease.
