Obesity, heart disease and other physical afflictions may not be the only negative impacts of consuming fatty foods. According to a recent study on mice, high-fat foods could be affecting behavior, increasing the risk of depression and related psychological disorders.
The study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, suggests that a high-fat diet alters the mix of bacteria in the gut known as the gut microbiome. These changes, researchers from Louisiana State University believe, might be affecting one’s susceptibility to mental illness.
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The researchers tested their hypothesis by taking organisms from the gut microbiome of mice that had been fed a high-fat diet and transplanting them into non-obese mice. They found that the microbiome associated with greater levels of fat led to problems such as increased anxiety and impaired memory.
“This paper suggests that high-fat diets impair brain health, in part, by disrupting the symbiotic relationship between humans and the microorganisms that occupy our gastrointestinal tracks,” Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, told Science Daily.
Although there is still a lot of research to be done in this field, the study highlights mental issues associated with a high-fat diet regardless of obesity.
Read next: 10 Reasons Your Belly Fat Isn’t Going Away
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