Children Who Eat Too Many Fatty Foods Would Likely Have A Risk Of Developing Mental Problems

A new study indicates that children who eat excessive amounts of fatty foods may be at risk of developing mental problems such as cognitive and psychiatric problems when they become older. These include Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.

Urs Meyer from ETH Zurich in Switzerland in Springer Nature's journal Molecular Psychiatry and one of the authors of the study said that these changes from a young age onward are more result of the fatty foods themselves, and the impact they have on young brains, rather than arising from the mere fact of being obese. The team examined how high-fat diets during adolescence negatively affect normal brain functioning and cognition, according to Medical News Today.

In the study, the team found that high-fat diets deplete the levels of the key protein called reelin that helps synapses in the brain to work properly. This could lead to cognitive problems such as behavioral flexibility and memory. Having low levels of reelin may be at risk of acquiring Alzheimer's disease in adulthood, according to Indian Express.

Marie Labouesse, the lead author of the study, said that they think this adolescent vulnerability to high-fat foods might be due to the hypersensitivity of a protein known as reelin. In their study involving the mice, they found that the plasticity in the prefrontal cortex was impaired in animals fed high-fat foods during adolescence. On the other hand, it is surprising that when restoring levels, both cognitive function, and synaptic plasticity went back to normal, according to Pascale Chavis from the INMED Institute in Marseille in France.

Labousse said that their findings consuming many high-fat diets during adolescence disrupt function of the adult prefrontal cortex. She stressed to have a careful nutritional balance during adolescence period. The study also indicates how unhealthy foods and obesity are associated with the development of neuropsychiatric and neurological conditions.