During the experiments, rats were exposed to healthy and unhealthy diets for varying durations. Note that this diagram is illustrative only and does not fully reflect the experimental design. Credit: Ian Joson We all know this scenario. You’ve been sticking to a healthy diet, then the weekend rolls around. Pub meals, greasy fry-ups, takeaway dinners… None of that matters as long as you ate healthily during the week, right?
A UNSW Sydney study in rats, published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research , shows that cycling between a healthy and unhealthy diet impacts spatial memory. The research was undertaken by Dr. Mike Kendig and Professor Margaret Morris, Head of Pharmacology at UNSW Medicine & Health.
This research is important as junk foods are a central part of modern diets, but most of us don’t eat them 100% of the time. People often take part in "diet cycling," alternating between periods of healthy and unhealthy eating . A common pattern is adopting a poorer quality diet on weekends.
Previous research shows that high-fat, high-sugar diets are associated with poorer cognition in humans and rats. However, the effects of diet cycling are not well understood.
"Mike and I wanted to know whether the same total amount of unhealthy food, but in different sized chunks, would have the same impact," said Prof. Morris. Unhealthy diet impaired memory
"Our lab has been looking at the nexus between high-fat diet , high-sugar diet and cognition using a rat model," said Prof. Morris.
In this study, adult male rats were […]
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