You Drink Orange Juice In The Morning ? You Are More At Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease According To This Study

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The scientific consensus on the subject is clear: sugar, in excess, is a poison for our body. When consumed in too large quantities, it is stored as fat, which promotes weight gain and obesity, itself a risk factor for many serious diseases. Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, the development of certain cancers or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NASH). It also promotes inflammation in our body, acne and accelerates the aging process of our cells.

Research from the Framingham Heart Study Institute (Framingham, Massachusetts) confirms this last point. Published on PubMed, the study was conducted on 4,276 participants and the researchers established a clear correlation between our consumption of sugary drinks and the integrity of our brain.

Alzheimer's: sugar in the crosshairs

Thus, individuals consuming more than two sugary drinks per day show a significant decrease in their total brain volume of 0.68%. To give a concrete perspective on this alteration, the researchers compared it to the natural process of brain aging. This volumetric decrease corresponds to a premature aging of two years.

Even fruit juices are affected; long considered a healthier alternative to sodas, the latter also have a negative effect on our cerebral organ. Consumed daily, they are associated with a measurable reduction in the volume of the hippocampus, this brain structure involved in many vital processes. Memory, spatial orientation, formation of new memories or storage of long-term memories to name a few.

The research team quantified this impact: regular drinkers of fruit juice present an alteration of the hippocampus equivalent to accelerated aging of a year and a half. Why this finding is concerning? Because this region is one of the first affected in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

These results persist even after considering many potential confounding factors, such as age, gender, body mass index (BMI), or even physical activity level.

The impact of sugar on memory

In addition to these structural changes in the brain, when we look at the cognitive performance of the participants, there is also reason to be concerned. Heavy consumers of sugary drinks underwent a battery of neuropsychological tests and the results, there too, were not in their favor.

Episodic memory; our ability to remember personal events experienced in a specific context (date, place, emotions felt); is particularly affected. In people consuming more than two sugary drinks per day, this memory capacity similarly showed accelerated aging, ranging from 3.5 to 13 years depending on the individual. If we were to take a 45-year-old adult who was a soda drinker, his memory would work like that of a 58-year-old person, solely because of his penchant for this type of drink.

In terms of logical memory tests; the one that helps us retain and use information to solve problems, draw conclusions and make decisions; their results are just as negative. Whether recalling information immediately after learning it or recalling it after a certain delay, heavy consumers consistently show lower performance.

The picture painted by this research is therefore not exactly glowing and the conclusion is self-evident: sugar, consumed in excess, becomes a neurotoxic agent. This effect obviously depends on the quantities consumed, but in France, we should still feel concerned. UFC-Que-Choisir reminds us in this article: ” Anses [Editor's note: National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety] reminds us that 20% of adults, a quarter of adolescents and two thirds of children consume excessive amounts of sugar “. A score we cannot be proud of, even if there is worse elsewhere.

• Drinking more than two sugary drinks a day reduces brain volume, accelerating its aging by two years.
• Fruit juices, often perceived as healthy, also impact the hippocampus, a key area of ​​memory.
• A high sugar consumption impairs cognitive abilities, aging memory by up to 13 years.

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