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Unfortunately,
it's your brain.
People with
diets high in trans fats are more likely to experience the kind of brain
shrink-age associated with Alzheimer's disease than people who consume less of
the artery-damaging fats, the new study suggests.
Those with
diets high in vitamins C and E, the B vitamins and vitamin D, meanwhile, appear
to have larger brains than people with diets low in these nutrients.
And diets
high in omega three fatty acids seemed to benefit the small blood vessels of
the brain - "and the thinking abilities related to those vessels,"
said lead investigator Dr. Gene Bowman.
The work -
published in the journal Neurology - involved 104 people, ages 65 and older,
enrolled in the Oregon Brain Aging Study. All were generally healthy elders,
with few smokers or people with diabetes or high blood cholesterol.
When the
study was launched in 1989, "the aim was to study the effects of age on
dementia risk in people that don't have factors known to increase their risk at
the time," Bowman said.
In the new
study, researchers checked blood samples for markers of 30 different nutrients.
Participants also did a raft of neuropsychological tests, and 42 had MRI scans
of their brains as well. The team was interested in three things: cognitive
function, total brain volume and white matter changes thought to be a sign of
small vessel disease of the brain.
Small
vessel disease, also known as cerebral small vessel disease, is an accumulation
of plaque deposits in the small blood vessels throughout the brain. It can lead
to stroke.
"We
know in Alzheimer's disease that total brain atrophy [shrinkage] is accelerated
com-pared to people of the same age and same gender that don't have Alzheimer's
disease," said Bowman, a naturopathic doctor in the department of
neurology at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.
Among the
key findings:
* The B
vitamins, the antioxidants C and E and vitamin D all seemed to be working in
con-cert in some way the researchers can't yet fully explain. But the B-C-E-D
pattern was associated with greater total brain volume and better global
cognitive function. People who scored low on this vitamin combination turned
out to have less total brain tissue;
* People
who had high levels of circulating trans fats had less brain volume. They also
had poorer memory, attention, language and processing speed skills;
* People
with higher levels of omega three fatty acids had better executive function -
the ability to plan, problem solve, multi-task and perform other functions - as
well as fewer white matter lesions on their brain scans.
The
findings held after researchers took age, sex, education, hypertension and
genetic and other factors into account.
Some trans
fats are found naturally, in small amounts, in dairy products, beef and lamb,
but the trans fats in the study are hidden in cakes, flaky pas-tries, potato
chips and other fried, frozen and processed food. Trans fatty acids increase
inflammation, make arteries harder and decrease heart rhythm, increasing the
risk of cardiac arrest.
Only a
handful of studies have looked at the relationship between trans fats and brain
function, Bowman said. "I think our study is one of the first to look at
blood levels of trans fats related to brain health."
Evidence
suggests that trans fats can replace good fats in cell membranes, "and
when that occurs it changes the structure and chemical properties of the cell
in an unfavourable way," Bowman said.
"Trans
fats are known to be bad for cardiovascular health," he said. "It
makes sense that they're probably bad for the brain, too."
He
recommended avoiding processed foods that list "partially hydrogenated
oils" on the ingredient list. "That's trans fat," Bowman said.
( The Vancouver
Sun)
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