The health experts have strongly come in support of the reduction or removal of ‘harmful’ trans fats from processed food items as a new study has found that their consumption could impose adverse effects on the human brain, damaging the memory.
Trans fat, an artificially created unsaturated fat, is rampantly used in the processed food in order to improve their texture, flavor and most importantly the shelf life of a food item.
The study was conducted by the researchers at the University of California, San Diego. According to the study group, men who gathered excess trans fat were found to be at a higher risk of memory loss and other related troubles.
Beatrice A Golomb, study lead investigator and a professor of medicine at the University of California in San Diego, said, “Consumption of trans fat has been associated with higher body weight, heart disease and more aggression. I have always asserted that while trans fats raises the shelf life of foods, they reduce the shelf life of people.”
Notably, several previous studies have underlined the elevated risk of coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular troubles due to the consumption of trans fat, but the new study has also exposed its negative impacts on the brain.
For the new study, the researchers involved about 1,000 healthy men, all below 45 years. The participants undergo a word memory test. Those who consumed food with high trans fat level were found performing worst in the test. The study also found that the adverse effects on memory damage were even across the board after factors like education, age, ethnicity and depression were accounted.
According to the study, the average number of total words that was remembered by the participants was 86.
The details of the study were presented during Scientific Sessions 2014, organized by the American Heart Association.
Share this:
