12/16/2004 - Mark Mattson and colleagues from the National Institute onAging, Baltimore, US, have found that saturated and trans fats are notonly bad for the heart but bad for the brain as well. They have linkedthese fats to age-related memory loss and a lessening of the ability tolearn.

In a study on rats the team found that by reducing cholesterol andceramide (a form of fat) the cells became more resistant to thedestructive effects of the beta amyloid plaque. Although the mechanism ofaction is not yet established, cholesterol and ceramide appear tocontribute to neurodegenerative changes which promote the production ofamyloid plaque. Cholesterol also promotes oxidation which causes damage tocell membranes. Ceramides are short-lived intermediates in the productionof sphingolipids such as the spingomyelin component of cell membranes.Ceramides also help regulate cellular levels of cholesterol. Their levelsare significantly increased in AD patients and the accumulation ofceramides is known to lead to the upregulation of cytokines, thegeneration of free radicals, the interruption of the mitochondrialrespiratory chain and apoptosis. At the 34th Society for Neurosciencemeeting in San Diego in October, Mattson and his colleague VeerendraHalagappa explained how mice fed a "fast food" diet performed significantly worse in memory function tests than those on acontrol diet. At the same meeting, Ann-Charlotte Granholm of the MedicalUniversity of South Carolina in Charleston, US presented evidence to showthat trans fats (found in margarines and other processed foods) adverselyaffected a rat's learning ability (From New Scientist 27/10/04, MSNBC).

New research by Mattson, highlighted by BBC Health News (14/12/04) alsosuggests that a low calorie diet can help stave off the onset ofParkinson's Disease. On this occasion the research was carried out onmonkeys. Those injected with a toxin which causes Parkinson's-likesymptoms showed better control over their movements and higher dopaminelevels in their brains, if they had been fed a diet with 30% less caloriesthan normal. The Parkinson's Disease Society is reported to have said thatthe results of the study are encouraging but only preliminary. They havebeen published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS).

See also Food e-News 30/04/03 for an earlier reports on work by Mattsonand his colleagues and more lengthy notes on the role of lipids in thedevelopment of Alzheimer's Disease on AlzForum .

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