With the progress of technology and the increasing health awareness among people, high – fat and high – sugar diets (especially those rich in refined sugar and saturated fat, abbreviated as “HFHS”) have become a cause for concern. Excessive consumption of such diets can easily lead to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and more. Recently, a new study from the University of Sydney, published in the International Journal of Obesity, has added to our understanding of the effects of HFHS diets on the body. It suggests that these diets may damage brain function and, in turn, negatively affect cognitive ability.
This study is the first in the world to establish a link between the HFHS diet and spatial memory impairment and test this relationship in humans. The research team recruited 55 college students aged 18 to 38. The participants were asked to complete questionnaires about their sugar and fat intake, take working memory tests, and have their body mass index (BMI) recorded. Then, they had to navigate a virtual reality maze six times to find a treasure chest. The maze had landmarks, which the participants could use to remember the routes.
The starting point of each test and the position of the treasure chest remained the same. If they found the treasure chest within four minutes, they moved on to the next round. If not, they were teleported to the chest’s location and given 10 seconds to familiarize themselves before the next test. In the final round, there were no treasure chests in the maze, but the participants had to find and mark the previous locations of the chests using only their memory. The study found that participants with lower fat and sugar intake in their diet could identify the locations more accurately than those who consumed such foods multiple times a week.
Dr. Dominic Tran from the Department of Psychology at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Science, who led the study, explained that the experiment was designed to test the participants’ spatial navigation ability. This ability, which involves learning and remembering the path from one place to another, can roughly reflect the health of the hippocampus in the brain. Studies show that the HFHS diet mainly affects the hippocampus – a brain structure vital for spatial navigation and memory formation – rather than the entire brain. Dr. Tran also pointed out that this effect is reversible. By changing the diet, people can improve the health of the hippocampus, enhance their spatial navigation ability, and become better at exploring new cities or learning new routes home.
While it has long been known that excessive intake of refined sugar and saturated fat can lead to obesity, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers, and that such diets can speed up age – related cognitive decline in middle – aged and elderly people, this study is significant because the participants were young and in a stage of life with intact cognitive functions. This shows that making good dietary choices is important for maintaining brain health for everyone, not just the middle – aged and elderly.
Although the sample population in this study may not be representative of the general public, the research results still have broad applicability. Dr. Tran noted that although the participants might be healthier than the average person, during the research, it was clear that when the influence of working memory and BMI was controlled, the participants’ sugar and fat intake could reliably predict their performance in the final trial. He also said that with a larger and more representative sample size, the impact of diet on spatial navigation might be even more evident.
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