How does junk food affect the brain development of teenagers?

December 20, 2019 / Bio Valley bio on / -- nowadays, obesity is becoming more and more popular all over the world, especially in children and adolescents In 2019 alone, there will be more than 150 million obese children in the world These children's risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes will increase Adolescents with obesity are still likely to become obese in adulthood, and if this trend continues, 70% of 40 year olds could be overweight or obese by 2040 Image source: ran daily is a neuroscientist who mainly studies how diet changes brain health Based on the current situation of unhealthy diet, the author wants to clarify how unhealthy diet affects brain health through research At the same time, they also want to clarify why young people are so easily suffering from obesity Teenagers are the main consumers of "junk" food with high calorie content In adolescence, many children will show insatiable appetite, because rapid growth requires a lot of energy; to some extent, the acceleration of metabolism and rapid growth will effectively inhibit obesity, but excessive intake of high calorie junk food and sedentary lifestyle may Counteract the protective effect of the body's rapid metabolism Young people's brains are fragile Adolescence is the key stage of brain development, and adolescence coincides with a newly discovered social autonomy and the ability to choose personal food autonomously In adolescence, the connection between different brain regions and single neuron will be improved and strengthened Due to the improvement of the level of neural plasticity in the brain, the brain of adolescence often has certain Ductility This means that the brain is very vulnerable to the shaping and remodeling process of the environment, including diet In turn, when the development is completed, these changes will become "self-contained"; therefore, the brain of the adolescent body will be easily affected by the diet induced changes, and these changes may last for a lifetime It's hard to resist junk food! Neuroscientists use functional brain imaging technology to analyze the brain's response and changes to specific events Brain scanning results show that the prefrontal cortex, as a key brain area for behavior control and decision-making, will not fully mature until the age of 20 Prefrontal cortex can control the impulse induced by environmental events It is very difficult for teenagers to resist eating a whole bag of candy or buying junk food Compared with the immature prefrontal cortex, the reward and punishment system (dopamine system in the midbrain cortex) of the brain tends to fully mature at an earlier age Teenagers especially like to get rewards, including sweet and high calorie foods This is due to the increase of dopamine receptor in the brain of teenagers, so their sense of reward will be expanded Frequent stimulation of reward system will lead to long-term brain applicability of the body During adolescence, these changes may lead to long-term changes in the chemical balance of the brain All in all, teenagers' brain craves reward, so their behavior control ability will be weakened, and they will be easily reshaped by the experience of the body This is mainly manifested in the reduction of their ability to resist reward behavior Therefore, teenagers tend to prefer to eat foods that are easy to obtain and immediately satisfy them, which is not surprising, even in the face of the opposite So is health advice, so what are the long-lasting brain consequences? Source: sagiciousnewsnetwork.com transcranial magnetic stimulation The results of functional imaging research can show the brain activity when completing tasks or viewing food images Compared with normal weight adolescents, obese adolescents tend to have more active brain circuits in processing food rewards Interestingly, the activity of prefrontal cortex is lower, which shows that obesity can not only enhance the activation of reward and punishment system, but also reduce the size of central area Brain activity, which may exceed the body's appetite for food It's important for teenagers to lose weight successfully It can restore the activity of prefrontal cortex, which may provide the key knowledge, that is, prefrontal cortex is the key area for the brain to control food intake, and dietary intervention will increase the activity of self-control brain area; transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a way for scientists to change the activity of prefrontal cortex, which can change the inhibition and control of dietary behavior The repeated use of transcranial magnetic stimulation may be a new therapy to restore the brain's cognitive control of diet, which can help to lose weight for a long time Sports can enhance brain plasticity Excessive junk food intake in adolescence may change brain development, leading to long-term bad eating habits, but just like muscle, we can improve brain "willpower" through exercise Increasing brain plasticity in adolescence means that young people's minds may be more receptive to lifestyle changes, while physical exercise will enhance brain plasticity and help develop good health habits, while obesity changes the brain in general may also help researchers to initiate recognition and early intervention measures Functional brain imaging may provide a new information to help clinicians better identify people at risk and track changes in the brain during nutrition and lifestyle interventions; more importantly, transcranial magnetic stimulation may also be a new therapy to improve the brain recalibration of young people to prevent this continuous change Into adulthood Reference materials: [1] taxing density in Canada: childhood density and excess weight rates in Canada [2] Why does childhood excess and density matter? 【3】 Are teenage brains really different from adult brains？
【4】 WHAT IS NEUROPLASTICITY？
【5】 What Is Dopamine？
【6】Eric Stice，Sonja Yokum Gain in Body Fat Is Associated with Increased Striatal Response to Palatable Food Cues， whereas Body Fat Stability Is Associated with Decreased Striatal Response ， Journal of Neuroscience 29 June 2016， 36 (26) 6949-6956；doi：10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4365-15.2016 【7】 Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in Obesity 【8】 Brain gains–How exercise improves your brain 【9】 How junk food shapes the developing teenage brain by Amy Reichelt， The Conversation