I found another amazing study I just had to share with you all. It’s a study that linked fructose to low cognitive abilities. American’s are addicted to sugar and carbs. I at one point was addicted to sugar however, now I have self-control on what I eat. What we put in our mouths not only affect our weight but, it significantly affects how we mentally perform on a daily basis. When researchers fed rats a fructose solution as drinking water for six weeks, then tested their ability to remember their way out of a maze, the results certainly grabbed the researchers’ attention – and they should grab yours, too.

The rats that was fed the fructose syrup showed significant impairment in their cognitive abilities—they struggled to remember their way out of the maze. They were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity. Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats’ ability to think clearly and recall the route they’d learned six weeks earlier.

Additionally, the fructose-fed rats showed signs of resistance to insulin, again showing that consuming large amounts of sugar, and in this case fructose, may block insulin’s ability to regulate how your brain cells store and use sugar for the energy needed to form healthy thoughts and emotions.

Researchers concluded that a high-fructose diet harms your brain, as well as the rest of your body. According to Dr. Mercola he believes that regularly consuming more than 25 grams of fructose per day will dramatically increase your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, as it will inevitably wreak havoc on your body’s ability to regulate proper insulin levels.

Too Many Carbs and Too Much Sugar Increases Your Risk of Cognitive Impairment
Among people aged 70 to 89, diet proved very influential in contributing to the risk of mild cognitive impairment, including problems with memory, language, thinking and judgment, down the line. The new study revealed carbs and sugar to be the biggest culprits, while protein and fats were protective.

•Those with the highest carbohydrate intake were nearly twice as likely to develop mild cognitive impairment than those with the lowest intake of carbohydrates.

•Those with the highest sugar intake were 1.5 times more likely to experience mild cognitive impairment than those with the lowest levels.

•Those with the highest fat intake were 42 percent less likely to develop cognitive impairment

•Those with the highest protein intake reduced their risk by 21 percent

•When compared with total fat and protein intake, those with the highest carb intake were 3.6 times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment

Why might this be?
Because a diet that’s focused on unhealthy carbs and sugar seriously interferes with the ability of insulin to do its job Researchers noted: “A dietary pattern with relatively high caloric intake from carbohydrates and low caloric intake from fat and proteins may increase the risk of MCI [mild cognitive impairment] or dementia in elderly persons.”

What Dietary Strategies Help Protect Your Brain?
Obviously the first and most important step is to limit carbs. Ideally your best carbs are fiber-based vegetables. It would be wise to avoid sugar and grains and replace those calories with healthy fats, like butter, avocados, coconut oil and olive oil. Nuts can be used but not overdone as you do not want to increase protein much above one half gram per pound of lean body weight.

On a brighter note, the above-mentioned study also found that rats given omega-3 fats in addition to the high-fructose diet were able to navigate the maze better and faster than the rats in the non-omega-3 group.

The researchers concluded that a type of omega-3 fat called DHA is protective against fructose’s harmful effects on the brain. DHA is essential for synaptic function—it helps your brain cells transmit signals to one another, which is the mechanism that makes learning and memory possible. Your body has difficulty producing enough DHA from vegetarian omega-3 precursors, so it must be supplemented through your diet, and this is one reason why getting enough animal-based omega-3 fats is so essential.

Resources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22810099
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528805.800-food-for-thought-eat-your-way-to-dementia.html?cmpid=NLC%7CNSNS%7C2012-0309-GLOBAL%7Cmg21528805.800
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22473784p
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22801434