Watching What You Eat Can Improve Brain Health

It is known that certain types of dietary fat can benefit your health and that others can create damage to the cells of your body.

In fact, it has been shown that trans-fatty acids may pose detrimental effects in your body, as opposed to omega-3 fatty acids, which may provide tremendous benefits.

However, as you get older the type of fats you eat, and not the total fat levels, may be associated with many different health effects - especially brain health.

The fact is, as you age, your risk for developing cognitive issues, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other brain-related conditions increase with every passing year.

Now, according to a new study published in the Annals of Neurology, the type of fat that you ingest as you get older, may reduce cognitive functioning.

Let me explain…

Dietary Fats and Brain Health

It has been shown that certain types of fat (omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats) are more beneficial to brain health and overall health than other types (saturated and trans-fats).

However, the types of fat you may be eating could dramatically change the health of your brain as you age.

The authors of this study attempted to see if the type of dietary fat consumed could  be associated with a reduction in brain health as you get older.

They recruited 6,183 older participants (55 and older) who were part of the Women’s Health Study.

They attempted to see an association between different dietary fats (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated (omega-3 fats), and trans-fats) and what effects (if any) the fats had on cognitive function in the elderly population.

They assessed dietary fat consumption for baseline measurements.

Five years after baseline dietary measurements, they started performing serial cognitive tests for over the next four years.

They were looking for outcome changes as they related to global cognition (average tests of verbal, spatial, and semantic fluidity) and verbal memory (immediate recall of information).

The researchers showed that people with higher saturated fat consumption, showed worse global cognitive trajectory and visual memory, and that people with the highest saturated fat intake, showed a higher degree of decline.

Also, they showed that people who consumed more fat in the monounsaturated form, were associated with better global cognition and verbal memory scores.

When it came to polyunsaturated fats and trans-fats, the researchers noted there was no association between consumption of these fats and changes in cognitive trajectory.

From their work, they concluded that increased saturated fat intake could be associated with worse global cognitive decline and verbal memory trajectory.  On the other hand, they concluded that increased monounsaturated fats were related to better overall cognitive trajectories.

In their overall conclusion, they determined that the type of fatty acids in your diet, and not the amount of dietary fats, could influence (better or worse) cognitive aging as you get older.

Although this research is new and more research needs to be performed, this study may show that the type of fats you consume could influence different areas of brain health and cognition.

Fats and Your Health

Dietary fats, research shows, could be either very good for your health or may lead to future health issues.

In fact, it has been shown that omega-3 fatty acids could benefit your brain, heart, and eye health, whereas trans-fats could damage the cells of your body, which may increase your risk for cancer, heart disease, and other diseases.

However, it has also been shown that the type of fat you consume may affect other areas of your body including hormone production (men and women), sperm health (for men), and health of certain systems of your body.

Now, according to this study, the type of dietary fat, and not the amount, may lead to impairments in cognitive function and your ability to recall information.

However, by altering your diet to include more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (omega-3 fatty acids) could lead to improvements in cognitive functioning, and may reduce your risk for cognitive decline.


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