Memory is impaired in aged rats after 3 days of high-fat eating

A recent study finds diet-related brain inflammation without metabolic changes

Just a few days of eating a diet high in saturated fat could be enough to cause memory problems and related brain inflammation in older adults, a new study in rats suggests. Researchers fed separate groups of young and old rats the high-fat diet for three days or for three months to compare how quickly changes happen in the brain versus the rest of the body when eating an unhealthy diet.

As expected based on previous diabetes and obesity research, eating fatty foods for three months led to metabolic problems, gut inflammation and dramatic shifts in gut bacteria in all rats compared to those that ate normal chow, while just three days of high fat caused no major metabolic or gut changes. Read more.

When it came to changes in the brain, however, researchers found that only older rats – whether they were on the high-fat diet for three months or only three days – performed poorly on memory tests and showed negative inflammatory changes in the brain. Read more.