High-Salt Diet Has Unexpected Effect on Brain
In addition to the well known and well documented effects that are typically associated with a high-salt diet, such as heart problems and high blood pressure, a new study has found that high-salt diets may effect mental performance and cause cognitive impairment,” IFLScience.com. A study published in Nature Neuroscience found “that mice fed a super salty diet show signs of declining mental performance and cognitive impairment due to their brains being starved of blood. After eating the high-salt diet, the mice had lost most of their hard-earned maze-solving skills. Eventually, they even stopped responding normally to a flick of their whisker,” Tom Hale reported.
The scientists marked a reduction of blood flow in the cortex and hippocampus, and noted that “after about three months, the mice became demented,” Director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York said. The researchers also noted that these findings were particularly unexpected because they presented without high blood pressure. While no human trials have been performed yet, researchers believe similar effects will be found in humans.
