Study Reveals Junk Food Accelerates Brain Cell Damage And Memory

Junk Food (Photo: Freepik/Freepik)

JAKARTA - We often think junk food only has an impact on weight and heart health. However, a number of recent studies reveal that high-fat and sugar foods can also accelerate brain cell damage and reduce memory to a matter of days.

Reporting from the Foodmed Center page, research from the University of air and the University of Aberdeen published in the Scientific Reports in 2018 found that high-fat food-based mice experienced a decline in ability considering that in just 24 hours.

The mice eat about 60 percent of the calories of fat, the equivalent of a human diet that often consumes fast foods such as burgers, French fries, and processed meat.

Interestingly, when the experimental animal is again given healthy food, its memory capacity recovers within a few days.

This shows that the brain is very responsive to what we eat, and the adverse effects of high-fat diets can arise even before the body shows signs of obesity.

Follow-up research from Sarah Spencer and the team at RMIT University, Australia (Neurobiology of Aging, 2017) explains why this is happening. According to them, a high-fat diet triggers inflammation of the brain called hippocampus, the main center of memory formation and learning ability.

Within three days, mice fed with high fatty foods showed increased levels of inflammatory substances such as interleukin-1 beta. This substance interferes with communication between nerve cells and causes difficulty storing new information. When researchers block the work of these substances with special drugs, memory reduction can be prevented even though mice still eat high in fat.

A study published in the journal Neuron in 2025 by Taylor Landry and a team from the University of North Carolina found that high-fat foods also disrupt brain energy supply.

In two days glucose levels decreased drastically. This makes the condition of brain cells not good. As a result, the pattern of neural activity becomes chaotic and the brain's ability to store memories decreases.

When researchers recover glucose levels in the brain, memory skills immediately improve. This means that a high diet of fat directly disrupts the brain's metabolism, not just a side effect of weight.

Not only affected animals. A study from Tuki Attuquayefio at Macquarie University, Australia (PLOS ONE, 2017) shows that humans can also experience similar effects in just four days.

In research on more than 100 healthy young people, participants who consumed high-fat and sugar breakfast experienced a decline in performance in spatial memory tests, a type of memory that relies on the hippocampus.

Interestingly, this group is also more difficult to restrain the desire to eat unhealthy foods, even when they are full. This means that junk food not only damages memory, but also weakens the brain's ability to resist the temptation of the same food.

The long-term impact of consuming high-fat foods is also dangerous. Research from Emily Knight at the University of California, Irvine (Neurobiology of Aging, 2014) shows modified mice to mimic Alzheimer's symptoms experience a faster decrease in memory when given a high-fat diet.

New research from Sabrina Mackey-Alfonso at the University of Kentucky (Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2024) found the same thing. High diets of fat exacerbate inflammation of the brain and accelerate damage to connections between nerve cells, even without a buildup of Alzheimer's brain plaque.

Researchers also found junk food could disrupt the balance of good bacteria in the intestines. According to a Youjun Yang study from the University of North Carolina (Neuropsychoarmacology, 2019), changes in the composition of gut microbes due to fatty foods can affect the development and function of hippocampus. When the bacteria balance is returned, the memory function also improves.

But the bad effects of fast food are not permanent. Research from Chrisanna Sims-Robinson at the University of Michigan (2016) shows that animals that were previously fed high in fat can recover their memory skills after returning to a healthy diet.

In addition, exercise also helps. The study led by Paul Loprinzi (Brain Sciences, 2019) shows physical activity can suppress inflammation of the brain and increase protein production that helps the growth of new brain cells.

In addition, foods rich in antioxidants such as berries, bright vegetables and fatty fish can help protect brain cells from damage due to oxidative stress.