According to a study published in ScienceDaily on March 31, adolescent intake of too much sugar can impair the performance of learning and memory tasks in adulthood.
Athens, GA (Business Northeast) – A research team from the University of Georgia and the University of Southern California found in the rodent model that mice that drank sugary beverages had difficulty in memory using Hippocampus. These mice had memory impairments in adulthood.
Sugar-sweetened beverages are the main source of sugar in the daily diet of Americans. In the United States, nearly two-thirds of young people consume at least one sugar-sweetened beverage every day. Even if a high-sugar diet is associated with obesity and cardiovascular disease, many children still consume too much sugar.
Researchers used rats to observe the effects of sugar-sweetened beverages on brain development. They found that compared with mice that drank only water, mice that drank sugary drinks had difficulty in memory using Hippocampus, but the memory gap on the cerebral cortex was not obvious.
“Early life sugar consumption seems to selectively impair their hippocampal learning and memory,” said Emily Noble, assistant professor in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences, who served as the first author on the paper.
The researchers also examined the gut microbes of the mice, and they found that the mice that drank sugary drinks had a lot of gut bacteria: Parabacteroides distasonis and Parabacteroides johnsonii. Rats with these bacteria have problems with memory during growth.
“We found that the bacteria alone was sufficient to impair memory in the same way as sugar, but it also impaired other types of memory functions as well.”
How much sugar can we eat every day? According to the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for daily sugar intake, whether it is an adult or a child, the daily sugar intake should be reduced to 10% of the day’s caloric intake, preferably less than 5%.
If you eat foods that add a lot of sugar, you are likely to reduce your intake of fruits and vegetables that are beneficial to your intestines. In addition, eating too much sugar can lead to obesity and even high blood sugar and diabetes.
Hyperglycemia has a wide range of effects on the body, especially on the blood vessels and nervous system. If you find that your blood sugar level is too high, you have to start paying attention to your diet to prevent and control your health as early as possible to avoid causing serious diseases.
Related information: Sugar not so nice for your child’s brain development, study suggests
