This is your brain on . . . bad food

"Poor diets lead to a host of medical issues: obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. But diet also influences the brain and can increase the risk for mental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers are uncovering the details of how the foods we consume affect our cravings, our moods, and even our memories."

And it starts in the womb!

Read more in "Let's eat: how diet influences the brain."

"They found that, in people in their sixties, those who were overweight or obese (those with the highest BMIs) had smaller hippocampi than people of healthy weights. In addition, over the course of eight years, everyone’s hippocampus shrank, but the overweight subjects experienced the biggest losses. The hippocampus normally shrinks with age, but it shrinks to a greater degree in dementia, which leads to memory problems. Other research in humans suggests that obese people score lower on memory tests, but losing weight through bariatric surgery can improve scores."