Sugar slows down the development of a child's brain and mental abilities

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Children consume the most added sugar, even despite the fact that a diet high in sugar has been linked to health consequences such as obesity and heart disease, and even impaired memory function.

However, less is known about how high sugar intake during childhood affects brain development, particularly an area known to be critical for learning and memory called the hippocampus.

A new study conducted by a University of Georgia faculty member in collaboration with a research team of the University of Southern California, showed in a rodent model that daily consumption of sugary drinks in adolescence reduces performance in learning and memorization in adulthood. The team also showed that changes in the bacteria in the gut could be the key to sugar-induced memory impairment.

Supporting this possibility, they found that similar memory impairments were observed even when bacteria called Parabacteroides, were experimentally enriched in the guts of animals that had never consumed sugar.

“Sugar increased levels of Parabacteroides early in life, and the higher the level of Parabacteroides, the worse the animals did,” said Emily Noble, associate professor in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences, who was first author on the paper. “We found that bacteria alone were enough to impair memory in the same way that sugar did, but they also impaired other types of memory function.”

The Dietary Guidelines advise limiting added sugars to less than 10% of calories per day.