A study conducted by the University of Southern California (USC) has found links between the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages and brain inflammation in adolescent rats.
Researchers found that the rats were at “an increased risk” of suffering negative health effects after the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.
Rats that freely consumed large quantities of liquid solutions containing either sugar or high fructose corn syrup (at concentrations comparable to those found in sugar-sweetened beverages available in the marketplace) experienced memory problems, brain inflammation and became pre-diabetic.
The study found that while adolescent rats experienced negative health effects, adult rats fed the same solutions did not display the same effects.
“The brain is especially vulnerable to dietary influences during critical periods of development, like adolescence,” said Scott Kanoski corresponding author of the study and assistant professor at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Kanoski said that the rats were tested in mazes that probe their spatial memory ability. Adolescent rats that had consumed the sugary beverages – particularly high-fructose corn syrup – performed worse on the test than any other group. Kanoski says that this may be the result of the neuroinflammation detected in the hippocampus – part of the temporal lobe located deep within the brain that controls memory function.
“Consuming a diet high in added sugars not only can lead to weight gain and metabolic disturbances, but can also negatively impact our neural functioning and cognitive ability,” said Kanoski
The study was published online by the journal Hippocampus and was funded by USC institutional support.