Weekly 'cheat meals' could increase risks of dementia and stroke
That greasy Friday night takeout might seem like a harmless treat, but new research reveals a hidden danger.
Just one high-fat meal can be enough to restrict blood flow to the brain, potentially raising the risk of devastating conditions like stroke and dementia.
It has long been understood that a self-indulgent, saturated fat-heavy meal, like a cheeseburger or fried chicken, harms the heart and blood vessels by raising ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels, which contribute to the formation of plaque in arteries that can block blood flow to the heart and brain.
The brain, which has minimal energy reserves, relies on a constant supply of blood to deliver the fuel it needs. To maintain this steady flow despite the body’s daily fluctuations in blood pressure, it depends on a set of biological shock absorbers that keep the brain stable under pressure.
But a single high-fat meal can disrupt this delicate system, impairing its ability to buffer these changes, leading to dangerous spikes and dips in brain blood flow, and over time, significantly raising the risk for devastating neurological conditions.
To explore this connection, researchers at the University of South Wales in the UK conducted a study with groups of younger and older men.
They measured key indicators of vascular function in both the body and the brain before and after the participants consumed a high-fat meal, which included a milkshake dubbed the ‘brain bomb.’
Designed to mimic a fast-food meal, it had 1,362 calories and 130g of fat; twice the recommended total fat and four to six times the recommended saturated fat for an entire day, all in one beverage.
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