Eating Fatty Foods Reduces Brain Oxygenation

THAT’S NOT GOOD –

Dec. 6, 2023 – Eating high-fat foods during periods of mental stress attenuated cerebral oxygenation in the pre-frontal cortex, resulting in a depletion of oxygen delivery (39% reduction in oxygenated hemoglobin) compared to consuming a low-fat meal. “When we get stressed, different things happen in the body: our heart rate and blood pressure go up, our blood vessels dilate, and blood flow to the brain increases,” said Rosalind Baynham, from the University of Birmingham. “We also know that the elasticity of our blood vessels – which is a measure of vascular function – declines following mental stress. We found that consuming fatty foods when mentally stressed reduced vascular function by 1.74% (as measured by Brachial Flow-mediated dilatation, FMD).”

This vascular function was reduced for up to 90 minutes after the stress subsided. The good news, however, is that eating foods high in polyphenols, such as cocoa, berries, grapes, apples and other fruits and vegetables had no impact on vascular function.