Researchers trained 24 rats to run a maze and then assigned them to a diet enriched with or without the omega-3 DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and with or without a sugar solution.  Six weeks later, rats ran the maze again from memory. The results: omega-3s boosted memory and sugar water hampered it.

“Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. “Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage.”

According to Dr. Gomez-Pinilla, eating too much fructose (a sugar found in cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and fruit) could block insulin’s ability to regulate how cells use and store sugar for the energy required for processing thoughts and emotions.

“Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning,” he said. “Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new.”

The UCLA study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Gomez-Pinilla’s lab will next examine the role of diet in recovery from brain trauma.

Click here for additional research updates from the UCLA Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology.

Sugar Sours Memory, Fish Oil Enhances The Saturday Evening Post

1. Get a Pedometer

You’d be amazed to see how many extra steps you can take in one day — grab a pedometer and watch the numbers roll as you make simple changes for your health and take the stairs, walk to work, or stroll around the neighborhood to increase your physical activity for better heart health. Tracking your progress throughout the day can be great inspiration to keep going, and walking is a simple and easy type of exercise to help lower cholesterol.

2. Find an Exercise Buddy

A healthy lifestyle requires motivation, encouragement, and a friend to lean on. Grab an exercise buddy and support each other in the challenge to lower your cholesterol. Take long walks together and encourage each other to try new types of physical activity to get the heart pumping and to keep cholesterol levels down. Enjoy each other’s company and laugh — reduced levels of stress will help your heart, too.

3. Steer Clear of Hidden Fats and Sugars

Be an informed eater. Get to know your ingredients and read the nutrition labels thoroughly. Hidden sugars and unhealthy ingredients can increase your weight, which can lead to high cholesterol. Stay away from foods that contain high levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and hidden sources of sugar such as high fructose corn syrup, some dextrins, or evaporated cane juice.

4. Say Psyllium, Please

One of the simplest tips is to get more fiber in your diet. Viscous soluble fiber like psyllium fiber, the natural dietary fiber found in Metamucil, is proven to help lower total and “lousy” LDL cholesterol because it forms a thick gel that traps and helps remove some cholesterol, bile acids, and waste in the gut. Most Americans only get 10 to 15 grams of fiber per day through their normal diet, versus the recommended 20 to 35 grams. This is why I recommend my patients supplement low fat, low cholesterol diets with 7 grams of soluble fiber from psyllium daily, as in Metamucil.

5. Add Healthy Fat, Too

DHA is short for docosahexaenoic acid, a polyunsaturated fatty acid. Regular intake of DHA can aid in proper heart function, help lower LDL, and raise HDL, or the “healthy” cholesterol. Popular sources of DHA are salmon, sardines, tuna — but if you aren’t a seafood fan, try fish oil supplements. Don’t like fishy taste? Get the healthy fat from vegetarian supplements made with algal DHA.

Heart Healthy Living The Saturday Evening Post