Does Dietary Fat Hurt Our Brains?
The study’s presenting author, Dr. Joshua Thaler, concluded that the research provides a potential target for obesity treatment.A high-fat diet can cause brain injury, according to a recent study by University of Washington researchers. Rodents were fed a diet similar in fat content to the typical American diet for up to eight months, and their brains underwent biochemical, imaging and cell sorting analysis. In addition to weight gain, the researchers detected inflammation of the hypothalamus along with damage to (and eventual loss of) neurons that regulate weight—results not found in the