How a High-Fat Diet Impacts Your Brain and Body?

Research suggests that while a high-fat diet raises the risk of diabetes and obesity, it might not be the sole factor causing changes in the brain.

High-fat diet can lead to weight gain and increase the risk of metabolic diseases like diabetes, causing changes in the hypothalamus of mice, though fat alone may not be the culprit, according to researchers from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE) and the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) in the specialist journal Scientific Reports ().

The connections between neurons in the brain are constantly changing. Diet has a significant influence on this. It is now known that a high-fat diet can cause changes in the hypothalamus that disrupt energy homeostasis and can increase the risk of metabolic diseases.

High-fat Diet may Trigger Pain Sensations Without Obesity or Diabetes
Eating a high-fat diet may cause pain sensations even in the absence of pre-existing conditions like obesity or diabetes.

‘Did You Know?
A healthy diet can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 58%. #highfatdiet #diabetes’

Food intake is predominantly regulated within the brain by two types of neurons: AgRP (Agouti-related peptide) and POMC (proopiomelanocortin) neurons.

Both are primarily found in the hypothalamus—or more precisely, in the paraventricular nucleus, a core region of the hypothalamus—and have opposite actions. POMC neurons inhibit food intake, while AgRP neurons promote it.

Fat or Rather Sugar?

Previous research showed that AgRP neuron activity in the paraventricular nucleus decreases in mice that are fed a high-fat diet.

High-Fat Diet May Alter Immune System
Healthcare providers increase or decrease the ratios of oleic acid and palmitic acid for a patient depending on their particular risk of infection or sepsis.

This was mostly attributed to the high-fat content of the diet given to the animals. However, the food of the studied mice also contained other nutrients, including sugar.

It therefore cannot be said with certainty which macronutrient is responsible for the neuronal changes.

High-Fat Diet may Up Inflammation and Cancer
High-fat diet can increase nitric oxide levels, which increases inflammation in the tumor microenvironment.

The researchers from DIfE and DZD investigated whether it is primarily fat that causes changes in the brain. They fed male and female mice a high-fat and low-sugar diet for 48 hours.

It was important for the researchers to study both male and female mice, as previous studies had often only used males. As a result, it was unclear whether the two sexes respond differently to a high-fat diet.

How High-fat Diets Trigger Inflammatory Immune Cell Generation
In the bone marrow of mice model it was found that high-fat diets fuel the creation of inflammatory immune cells.

Other Nutrients of Greater Significance

The examination of the animal brains produced an unexpected result: An effect of the high-fat diet was not identified. The connectivity of AgRP neurons had not decreased in either female or male mice.

This suggests that it is not dietary fat (alone) that is responsible for the previously observed changes in the hypothalamus.

The researchers suspect that other macronutrients, such as sugar, have more profound effects on AgRP neurons. They now want to conduct further studies to explore the role of individual macronutrients on neuroanatomical and functional changes in the brain.

Reference:

Acute elevated dietary fat alone is not sufficient to decrease AgRP projections in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus in mice - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39209992/)

Source-Eurekalert