Fast food is damaging your memory every minute. Here are some healthier alternatives

Most of us consume deep-fried food, lots of meat, and a whole ton of cheese as regular staples in our diet.

It’s evident that the amount of fat we consume directly affects our weight and overall feeling of well being, but did you know that consuming the wrong type of fat not only adds a few inches to your waist but has an adverse effect on the way your brain works as well? Taking Vitamin E supplements can reduce this damage and improve the symptoms of memory loss due to a poor diet.

Is Fat Bad For You and how Fast Food Diet Is Damaging Your Memory?

There are two main types of fat; Saturated fat and unsaturated fat.

Unsaturated fat is the good guy between the two; due to its molecular structure, it is easier for your body to break up.

Saturated fat, on the other hand, is a whole other story. Saturated fats are found in juicy hamburgers, fudge cakes, ice cream, and basically anything else you consider delicious comfort food.

When we think about health problems that are caused by eating these foods, which have unfortunately become staples in our diet, we usually only think of obvious symptoms such as heart problems or issues with our intestines.

The sad truth is that the fat in these foods can also affect our brain.

Saturated fat has proven to be a cause of not just cardiovascular complications, but cognitive impairment as well. Several studies have revealed that a diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol decreases memory and overall cognition over the years.

How Does Saturated Fat Cause Memory Loss?

How exactly does consuming a diet high in saturated fats have such an adverse effect on your brain?

There are two possible explanations.

There was a study published in ScienceDirect which revealed that consuming a diet high in saturated fats directly affects the ability of the memory regions of your brain to undergo Synaptic Plasticity. Synaptic Plasticity is the procedure through which your neurons can change over time, basically allowing you to learn new things.

In the study mentioned above, rats that consumed a diet high in saturated fats showed behaviors that reflected poor memory and were noted to have low Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF). Since BDNF has a substantial effect on Synaptic Plasticity, Low levels of BDNF most likely resulted in the rats being unable to learn and make proper connections in their brain, which in turn, caused them memory loss.

BDNF is very important for good brain health, here is an article if you want to know some quick ways to boost your BDNF.

The second possible explanation for why consuming a high-fat diet may cause impairments in memory, and overall cognition is due to saturated fats causing oxidative stress on the body.

What is oxidative stress?

Oxidative stress is basically when the tissues in your body get damaged due to the presence of excess waste products. Studies have proven that consuming saturated fats definitely causes oxidative stress in your body. Oxidative stress in the brain can cause damage to brain tissue and limit your oxygen supply which can eventually lead to impaired cognition and memory.

What Can You Do?

So now you know that excessive consumption of saturated fats can cause memory loss and other cognitive problems, but is there anything that can be done to prevent this brain damage? First of all, try to consume unsaturated fats instead of saturated fats as often as possible. Some foods that contain unsaturated fats are:

• Olive oil
• Popcorn
• Avacado
• Oatmeal
• Fish
• Beans

Taking Vitamin E

Another great boost for your brain is taking some Vitamin E. You can consume Vitamin E to help prevent damage to your brain by oxidative stress. There was a study published in the European Journal of Neuroscience that revealed that individuals who were suffering from cognitive problems due to consuming a lot of saturated fats greatly benefited from consuming Vitamin E.

Vitamin E has antioxidant properties and therefore is a great supplement you can take to prevent cognitive complications and keep your brain running and healthy.

Memory loss occurs naturally as you age, but you definitively don’t want to speed up the process with poor diet choices.

Ensuring you consume unsaturated fats alongside food containing vitamin E or a vitamin E supplement like NeuroActiv6 will help slow down memory loss and even reverse some of the damage that your fast food diet has already done to your brain.