Omega-3s Counteract Fructose Damage to the Brain
Brain: Fish Oil Reduces the Effects of Fructose
Foods rich in Omega 3 minimize brain damage caused by high amounts of fructose, such as slowed memory and learning abilities. Fernando Gomez-Pinilla and Rahul Agrawal, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (USA), reveal this in a study published in the Journal of Physiology1. This discovery adds new benefits to the effects of these fatty acids on the brain.
Fructose: The Brain’s Sugar Enemy
Fructose is known as the "fruit sugar." It is also widely used in the food industry; for example, soft drinks contain very high amounts of it. Gomez-Pinilla and Agrawal’s studies focused precisely on this aspect.
The Study
Over 6 weeks, the researchers evaluated the ability of two groups of rats to learn how to navigate a maze and remember the exit path.
- One group was fed a fructose-rich diet.
- The other was fed only with healthy foods.
The results were surprising: the rats given fructose were much slower than the others. Further analysis showed that consuming high doses of fructose blocks the ability of insulin to regulate the use and storage of sugars necessary to process thoughts and emotions. As a result, brain cells have difficulty communicating with each other. This is why the fructose-fed rats struggled to think and remember the maze’s exit, which they had previously memorized.
Counteracting Fructose’s Effects with Omega-3
In the same study, the authors compared the effect of fructose with that of Omega-3. Introducing foods rich in these fatty acids (such as walnuts or salmon) into the diet alongside sugar effectively counteracted fructose’s negative action. Integrating a diet rich in Omega-3 can protect the brain from the harmful effects of substances found in soft drinks.
Natural Sugar vs. Added Sugar: Differences
Gomez-Pinilla emphasizes that long-term consumption of high levels of fructose impairs the brain’s ability to learn and retain information. He also points out that the real concern is the addition of sweeteners or preservatives in some foods, often in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, and not the sugar naturally present in fruit. Therefore, the expert advises to:
- prefer, for example, fruit-flavored yogurt over packaged sweets;
- increase Omega-3 intake to minimize fructose-induced damage.
Source
1. Agrawal R, Gomez-Pinilla F, “'Metabolic syndrome' in the brain: deficiency in omega-3 fatty acid exacerbates dysfunctions in insulin receptor signalling and cognition”, J Physiol. 2012 May 15;590(Pt 10):2485-99. Epub 2012 Apr 2
