Eating too much sugar can damage your brain! US research

Candies and drinks are sweet and colorful, and are favorites of many children and teenagers.

But a recent US study conducted in rats showed that drinking sugary drinks every day during adolescence impairs learning and memory abilities in adulthood.

Among them, the impairment of learning and memory abilities may be mainly caused by changes in intestinal flora.

Researchers found that an enrichment of Parabacteroides in the gut was associated with impaired memory, and that eating sugar early in life increased this bacteria.

Given the importance of the hippocampus in cognitive function, the researchers looked at the effects of eating more sugar on the hippocampus.

The researchers gave young mice either normal food or a liquid containing 11% sugar.

After having the rats perform a memory task that relies on the hippocampus, it was found that the rats that had consumed sugar early on had an impaired ability to discern novel objects in a given context, while the rats that had not consumed sugar were able to complete the task.

For tasks independent of the hippocampus, however, eating sugar or not had no effect.

Researchers say it is necessary to explore the healthy environment for brain development and how gut flora influences brain signals.

Source: Emily E. Noble et al, Gut microbial taxa elevated by dietary sugar disrupt memory function, Translational Psychiatry (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01309-7.

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