Study Shows How Diet Impacts Health — Even A Single Milkshake Can Affect Your Brain

Many people are aware of the connection between diet and overall health. We all have a basic understanding that natural foods tend to be better for us than ultra-processed foods. Similarly, a diet consisting solely of high saturated fats is not ideal for overall well-being. Now, a new study warns that even a single milkshake can negatively affect your brain.

The Details: A new study, shared by The Conversation, aimed to investigate the effects on the body and brain of people consuming high-fat meals. While it has long been known that overindulging in high-fat meals can have lasting impacts, this study now suggests that even a single one of these meals can negatively affect health.

• The study highlighted that there are two types of fat, saturated and unsaturated, which differ by their chemical composition.
• Meals that are high in saturated fat “can be bad for our blood vessels and heart health.”
• The study argued that the brain requires “a continuous supply of blood delivering oxygen and glucose to maintain normal function.”
  • When that process is impaired, the swings in blood pressure are more difficult to manage, which means there can be too much or too little blood reaching your brain. This increases your chance of developing dementia or having a stroke.
    

How A Single Milkshake Can Affect Your Brain

So can one cheat meal really be that bad for your brain? According to this new study, it can. The Conversation shared that after consuming a meal high in saturated fat, the level of fat in your blood peaks around four hours after consumption. While this is happening, “blood vessels become stiffer and lose their ability to relax and expand. This restricts blood flow around the body.”

While scientists understood all of this, little was known about the brain during this time. The study now aims to determine exactly what occurs to the brain after consuming a meal high in saturated fat.

• 20 young men between the ages of 18 and 35, and 21 men between 60 and 80 were observed during the study
• The study measured “how well blood vessels linked to heart and brain health worked before, and four hours following, consumption of a meal high in saturated fat.”
• Additionally, the participants performed body-weight squats to demonstrate how well blood vessels in the brain handled swings in blood pressure.

The Brain Bomb

A milkshake was the high-fat meal provided to the participants. It was named “the brain bomb” because it mainly consisted of heavy whipping cream. The drink contained 1,362 calories and 130g of fat, mimicking the fat load of a fast-food takeaway.”

The findings proved that “a high-fat meal impairs the ability of the blood vessels linked to heart health to open in both young and old participants.” Furthermore, the impairments then reduced the brain’s ability to handle changes in blood pressure. The findings were even more pronounced in the older participants.

While long-term effects were not studied, the correlation between meals high in saturated fat and weakened brain function was evident. Now, study leaders admit that they need to create opportunities to study the link between women’s brains and high-saturated fats because women are at higher risk for both stroke and dementia.