How Diets High in Fructose Can Make Us Dumber
High amounts of fructose have become a normal part of the American diet, and it’s having devastating effects on people’s health. Most of us know by now that diets high in fructose can lead to obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. But new studies are showing that these effects are only the tip of the iceberg.
As mentioned, a high-sugar diet can lead to a wide variety of health problems. But it can also trigger genetic changes that may affect your metabolism and intelligence. Luckily, some genetic damage caused by high-fructose diets can be reversed by cutting out these foods and drinks and eating more foods high in DHA, such as fatty fish.
The Known Dangers of High Fructose
We’re made to consume fructose. Most of us have a taste for sweet foods, and noticeable amounts of natural sugars exist in much of what we eat. It turns out fructose isn’t specifically a problem; it’s how we consume it. Foods containing refined sugars like high fructose corn syrup can have several times more sugar than the naturally sweet foods we’re meant to eat.
People who consume large amounts of these refined sugars, like soda drinkers, are bombarding their bodies with levels of fructose we were never intended to ingest. According to one study, about 30% of the average American’s carbohydrate intake is composed of these sugars. Such high amounts can have toxic effects on numerous systems in the body. This may lead to serious health issues that include insulin resistance, elevated cholesterol, hypertension and metabolic syndrome.
High Fructose and Your Brain
Your brain’s ability to function properly depends greatly on how you choose to fuel it. The foods you eat can influence metabolism, inflammation and hormonal signals --- and they can even affect how you express your brain’s genes. Excess fructose levels can switch on genes that adversely affect neurological and mental functions.
Some of those changes could also make you “dumber.” A UCLA study showed genetic changes related to high fructose intake depletes brain levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an essential omega fatty acid. Mice with low DHA levels take about twice as long to get through a maze as mice with normal levels.
The study also showed that supplemented DHA could counteract many of the effects, switching off the genes that high fructose diets switch on. This means you can reverse some sugar-related damage by limiting foods high in fructose and adding more foods into your diet that are high in DHA, such as fatty fish.
Your diet could have profound effects on both your mind and body, so why not feed both right? You have more than just your good health to lose. A poor diet high in fructose could literally be making you less intelligent, so do the smart thing and cut out those added sugars for good.
~ Here's to Your Health and Wellness
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