Jul 12, 2022 12:30:00

Continuing to eat a high-fat diet may exacerbate Alzheimer's disease, depression, and anxiety

It has been pointed out that junk foods and

super-processed foods that contain a large amount of fat and sugar not only cause health problems such as obesity and diabetes, but also have a negative effect on mental health. A new study found that feeding mice a high-fat diet for 30 weeks exacerbated the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease , depression, and anxiety.

Long term high fat diet induces metabolic disorders and aggravates behavioral disorders and cognitive deficits in MAPT P301L transgenic mice. --Abstract --Europe PMC
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-022-01029-x

Long term high-fat diet expands waistline and shrinks brain --News and events --University of South Australia
https://unisa.edu.au/media-centre/Releases/2022/long-term-high-fat-diet-expands-waistline-and-shrinks-brain/

Mice Fed Fatty Diets For 30 Weeks Show Signs of Depression, Anxiety, And Alzheimer's
https://www.sciencealert.com/mice-study-suggests-high-fat-diets-creates-higher-risk-of-alzheimer-s-and-anxiety

Alzheimer's disease, which accounts for most of dementia, has become a major problem in an aging society, and many researchers are studying the causes and preventive measures for Alzheimer's disease. Past studies have pointed out that chronic obesity and type 2 diabetes are often associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Therefore, a research team led by Professor Xin-Fu Zhou and Associate Professor Larisa Bobrovskaya of the University of South Australia continued to feed Alzheimer's disease mice with a high-fat diet for a long period of time to treat Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, and depression. I studied the relationship between.

The research team found that a high-fat diet or a standard diet for 30 weeks compared to normal mice, which is a control group with 'pR5 mice' genetically modified to produce abnormally phosphorylated

tau protein associated with Alzheimer's disease. We continued to give food intake, body weight, amount of glucose, anxiety, depression, cognitive function, etc. on a regular basis. It seems that the lifespan of a general experimental mouse is about 1.5 years (about 80 weeks), and 30 weeks can be said to be a fairly long period for mice.

As a result of the experiment, normal mice that continued to eat a high-fat diet gained weight, worsened insulin resistance, and increased abnormal behavior related to anxiety compared to mice fed a standard diet. It turned out. We also know that tau protein in the brain was increased.

PR5 mice were even more prone to obesity than control mice fed the same high-fat diet, had worse insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance , and had significantly increased abnormal behavior related to anxiety and depression. In addition to these, it was also confirmed that abnormally phosphorylated tau protein increased in the brain and cognitive function declined.

'A high-fat diet has been shown to promote peripheral insulin resistance in transgenic pR5 mice, developing cognitive-behavioral changes and tau protein pathology,' the research team said. As a result of pathological changes, cognitive impairment can be exacerbated in these mice. '

'Obesity and diabetes impair the central nervous system and exacerbate mental illness and cognitive decline,' said Bobrovskaya. 'We have demonstrated this in studies with mice.' 'Our study is global. It emphasizes the importance of coping with the obesity epidemic. The combination of obesity, aging and diabetes is very likely to lead to cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease and other mental disorders. ' I did.