Dietary trans fat can affect memory especially in men

THERE's another reason to avoid dietary trans fatty acids (dTFA). While they increase your cholesterol levels, they can also decrease your ability to recall. This is true particularly in men 45 years and below, suggests a new study.

The research involved 1,018 men and women who completed a dietary survey and memory test (word recall). In the test, men aged 45 and younger remembered 86 words on average. But for every additional gram of trans fats they consumed daily, their performance fell by 0.76 words – or 12 fewer words recalled by young men with dTFA intake levels matching the highest observed in the study, compared to otherwise similar men consuming no trans fats.

“Trans fats were most strongly linked to worse memory in men during their high productivity years,” said Beatrice A. Golomb, MD, PhD, lead author and professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “Trans fat consumption has previously shown adverse associations to behavior and mood—other pillars of brain function. However, to our knowledge a relation to memory or cognition had not been shown.”

After adjusting for age, exercise, education, ethnicity and mood, the link between higher dTFA and poorer memory was maintained in men 45 and younger.

The research focused on men because of a small number of women in this age group. But including women in the analysis did not change the finding, said Dr Golomb.

An association of dTFA to word memory was not observed in older populations. Dr Golomb said this is likely due to dietary effects showing more clearly in younger adults. Insults and injuries to the brain accrue with age and add variability to memory scores that can swamp ability to detect diet effects.

dTFA is used in processed foods to enhance taste, texture and durability. Trans fatty acids have been linked to negative effects on lipid profiles, metabolic function, insulin resistance, inflammation and cardiac and general health. In June, the US Food and Drug Administration finalized its determination that trans fats are not generally recognized as safe.

“As I tell patients, while trans fats increase the shelf life of foods, they reduce the shelf life of people,” said Dr Golomb.

The study, authored by Dr Golomb and Alexis K. Bui of UC San Diego, was published by the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in PLOS ONE on 17 June 2015. It was funded in part by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health (RO1 HL63055-05) and the UC San Diego General Clinical Research Center (NIH MO1 RR00827).