High consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages increases the risk of memory problems, a study on rats found.
The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Southern California. The researchers found that adolescent rats who consumed large quantities of liquid solutions containing sugar or high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in concentrations comparable to popular sugar-sweetened beverages experienced memory problems and brain inflammation. They also became pre-diabetic.
"The brain is especially vulnerable to dietary influences during critical periods of development, like adolescence," said Scott Kanoski, corresponding author of the study and an assistant professor at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, in a press statement.
In the study, about 40 percent of the rat's caloric consumption was from HFCS or sugar. To make comparison easier, researchers noted that added sugars make up about 17 percent of the total caloric intake of teens in the U.S. on average.
The rats in the study were then made to undergo several tests. Some of them include mazes that probed their spatial memory abilities. Researchers noted that the rats that consumed the sugary beverages, particularly HFCS, performed worse on the test than any other group.
"Consuming a diet high in added sugars not only can lead to weight gain and metabolic disturbances, but can also negatively impact our neural functioning and cognitive ability." Kanoski said. Next, Kanoski and his team plant to see how different monosaccharides (simple sugars) and HFCS affect the brain.
Findings of the current study were published online in the journal Hippocampus. The research was funded by USC institutional support.
