A new study found that eating highly processed foods for 4 consecutive weeks can cause a strong inflammatory response in the brain of aging rats, accompanied by behavioral signs of memory loss
This dietary study investigated human ready-to-eat foods with a long shelf life (such as potato chips and other snacks), frozen staple foods (such as pasta and pizza), and cooked foods containing preservatives.
"It's a bit worrying to see these effects so soon
DHA, also known as docosahexaenoic acid, is an omega-3 fatty acid that is present in fish and other seafood together with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)
The research team randomly assigned 3-month-old and 24-month-old male rats to a normal food group (32% of calories are from protein, 54% from wheat-based complex carbohydrates, and 14% from fat), a highly processed diet group (calories) 19.
Compared with the young rats in any diet group and the old rats in the processed food group supplemented with DHA, the hippocampus and amygdala of the aged rats that only ate processed foods had significantly activated genes related to pro-inflammatory proteins and other inflammatory markers Elevated
The research results also show that supplementing DHA in processed foods eaten by old rats can effectively prevent the increase in brain inflammation and the behavioral signs of memory loss
Barrientos warned that the results of this study should not be interpreted as consumers can eat special processed foods as long as they take DHA supplements.
Related paper information: https://doi.
https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
bbi.
2021.
08.
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org/10.
1016/j.
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