Researchers explore effects of adolescent obesity on cognitive performance in adulthood

The Franco-Mexican research explores the cognitive performance in adulthood when the subjects have been exposed to an obesogenic environment during adolescence.

In recent years, the term metabolic syndrome has become popular beyond the scientific community as it is a health problem that relates very closely with increased adiposity (overweight and obesity), increased glucose in blood and blood pressure. However, in the last five years it has been the subject of researches that relate that this metabolic state also affects cognitive performance, meaning the capability to process information.

Currently, researchers at the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM) of Mexico lead a scientific project involving French and Mexican specialists, whose overall objective is to document for the first time the effect of obesity on the cognitive performance of adolescents.

Dr. Gustavo Pacheco, head of the project, said that the preliminary results in experimental models indicate that laboratory rodents that were subjected to a hyper caloric diet, at a stage comparable to a childhood-adolescence in humans, developed a cognitive deficit in adulthood, even without being overweight or obese.

"The following was exposing adult rats to the same diet and we found that they did not develop cognitive problems. In short, adolescence is a sensitive period in the neuro-development for the effects of diet, especially those that are high in fat. These experimental data indicate that it is not necessary to develop overweight or obesity to have a negative effect on the cognitive performance at adulthood" explains Dr. Pacheco.

He also emphasizes that the damage in the brain appears to be reversible. However, we have to take preventive measures as soon as possible in children and adolescents. "But if we have been exposed to high calorie diets, it is best to stop now," the specialist stressed.

The OBETEEN (obesity in adolescents) project involves three objectives: first, the impact on obesity in adolescents regarding the functional connectivity between the hippocampus and amygdala, in Mexico and in France.

The second is to use rodents to find the mechanisms on how high-fat diets affect cognitive performance, which for the moment will not be replicated in humans as it would take several years. And the third goal is to find a way to demonstrate the potential restorative and therapeutic effect of exercise to try to counter the negative result of high fat diets.