'Junk Food' can harm your brain

Easymix

ON DEMAND

Catch up on shows with On Demand

SITE SEARCH

FOLLOW US ON

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Scientists have found a high-fat diet damages a crucial region of the brain that controls body weight in rodents and believe a similar process may occur in obese humans.

Within 24 hours of being fed high-fat foods, rats and mice developed inflammation followed by scarring in the hypothalamus, a region that regulates body weight and food intake in humans and rodents. Animals fed the diet continuously for four weeks developed chronic inflammation and neuron loss.

As part of the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers studied the brain scans of 34 people and found similar levels of inflammation and scarring in the brain in people with a high body mass index. But they could not confirm if their obesity had caused the brain damage, or the injury had led to their overweight condition.

The director of the Monash Obesity and Diabetes Institute, Michael Cowley, who was not involved in the study, said body weight was normally controlled by the brain automatically, in a similar way to body temperature. ''If this part of the brain can't sense body fat, then it can't reduce weight,'' he said.

The head of the cellular and molecular metabolism laboratory at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Mark Febbraio, said while the damage was not comparable to injuries caused by a stroke or significant trauma, the study showed even short-term fat feeding had a detrimental effect on the brain.

Past research has found obese people and those with diabetes have a higher chance of developing Alzheimer's disease.