How does diet influence brain and behavior?
We are very excited about a new line of research in my laboratory examining the effects of a high fructose diet on brain and behavior. Over the past 30 years, there has been an alarming increase in the consumption of fructose from sweeteners in the North American diet. In humans and rodents, extensive intake of fructose is associated with a variety of pathological changes, including insulin insensitivity, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type II diabetes. In rodents, some of the pathological changes are observed as soon as two weeks after consumption of a high fructose diet. The findings of a study conducted by our collaborator demonstrated for the first time that the damaging effects of a high fructose diet extend to the brain. Specifically, fructose feeding produces hippocampal insulin resistance and impairs hippocampal synaptic plasticity in hamsters. We recently determined that a high fructose diet impairs spatial water maze memory and will present those data at the 2007 Societ
