Summary: Adolescent rats fed a high-fat eating displayed increased aggression and altered decision-making as individuals. These” cheesecake rats” were quicker to act on visual cues ( indicative of impulsivity ) but showed more conservative choices in gambling tasks, opting for smaller, safer rewards.
Genetic analysis revealed alterations in their mind’s reward road and gut markers, indicating that high-fat food may interfere with mental development. These studies point to the possibility that adolescence’s diet can have a long-term impact on behavior and neuroscience.
Major Information
- Aggression and Risk: Animals fed a high-fat dieting in youth showed greater hyperactivity and less dangerous decision-making as adults.
- Brain Development: The high-fat eating altered the mesolimbic praise road in the brain, affecting conduct.
- Gut-Brain Link: Changed oily acid levels in the intestines were linked to neurodevelopmental results.
Origin: ACS
A diet high in saturated fats and added honey has been linked to impulsivity and poor self-control for people. But what role, if any, does diet play in youthful emotional growth?
Researchers record in , ACS Chemical Neuroscience , that youthful rodents fed a high-fat eating showed poor power during engine inhibition tasks and liberal decision-making in gambling scenarios as adults.
This information may offer insights into human development.
Diet is one of many aspects — like sleep, exercising and material use — estimated to affect an individual’s mental advancement and reward-seeking behavior.
There is little known about the effects of particular eating patterns, despite the previously collected evidence that supports the role of sleep and exercise on cognitive development.
Therefore, Santiago Mora and colleagues created experiments to examine the possible effects of a high-fat eating in adolescence on the behaviors and options of adult rats.
For the experiments, Mora’s team fed 20 young rats a high-fat diet of cheesecake ( cheesecake rats ) and another 20 a nutritionally balanced chow diet ( chow rats ). When the rabbits reached age, the researchers trained all 40 to conduct various tasks, including a betting scenario.
The researchers were able to assess the animals ‘ ability to control impulsive and compulsive behavior and make healthy decisions using these attention and inhibitory-control experiments.
Adult cheesecake rats prematurely responded to visual cues ( i .e., jumping the gun to get a tasty snack ), according to task evaluations, which they claim are proof of increased impulsiveness.
However, the adult cheesecake rats exhibited less risky decision-making by opting for safer but smaller rewards during gambling scenarios ( i. e., no high rolling in casinos ) than the adult chow rats.
The researchers found biological differences between the cerebral cortexes of cheesecake and chow rats, which are both involved in behavior and personality, and gut metabolism biomarkers in further tests.
In a nutshell, the cake animals had altered levels of fatty acid in their guts, which were linked to neurological and behavioural outcomes, and had altered functions of the mesolimbic route, or the so-called reward route in their brains.
The findings point to the possibility that a high-fat diet in adolescence could hinder brain development and have an impact on adult neurobehavioral outcomes.
The researchers claim that their research “discovers the specific mechanisms underlying these intriguing effects” and that their findings indicate that a high-fat diet in adolescence can change impulsive behavior in rats over time.
Funding: The authors acknowledge funding from the European Regional Development Fund ( Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional ) and Ministry of Health, Government of Spain ( Ministerio de Sanidad, Gobierno de España ).
The authors make it clear that generative AI is used in their scientific writing.
About this information about psychology and diet
Author: Emily Abbott
Source: ACS
Contact: Emily Abbott – ACS
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
” From Nutritional Patterns to Behavior: High-Fat Diet Influences on Inhibitory Control, Brain Gene Expression, and Metabolomics in Rats” by Diego Ruiz-Sobremazas et al. ACS Chemical Neuroscience
Abstract
From Nutritional Patterns to Behavior: High-Fat Diet Influences on Inhibitory Control, Brain Gene Expression, and Metabolomics in Rats
With inhibitory control deficits, both compulsive and impulsive behaviors are linked. Diet plays a pivotal role in normal development, impacting both physiology and behavior. However, the specific effects of a high-fat diet ( HFD ) on inhibitory control have not received adequate attention.
This study sought to understand how impulsive and compulsive behaviors are affected by exposure to a HFD from PND 33 to PND 77. 40 Wistar rats were part of the experiment, which included HFD or chow diets.
Several tasks were employed to assess behavior, including variable delay to signal (VDS ), five choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT), delay discounting task ( DDT), and rodent gambling task (rGT).
metabolomics and fatty acid profiles were studied using stool samples taken from PND298 while genetic analyses were carried out on the frontal cortex.
Our findings demonstrated that the HFD group displayed increased motor impulsivity without affecting cognitive impulsivity. Surprisingly, reduced impulsive decision-making was shown in the HFD group.
The frontal cortex also displayed abnormal brain plasticity and dopamine gene regulation, while metabolomics revealed abnormal fatty acid levels.
