What we eat affects us in many ways. Fat especially has a profound effect on some of our key organs such as the heart and the brain. For instance, saturated fat has been found to harm the heart. Now, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital [BWH] have found that saturated fat is as bad for memory and cognitive function as it is for the heart. This same holds true for mono-unsaturated [good] fat—it’s good for the heart as well as the brain.
Participants in the study who consumed the highest amounts of saturated fat from red meat and butter, compared to those who consumed the lowest amounts, had worse overall cognition and memory over the four years of testing.
On the other hand, those who ate the most mono-unsaturated fats, which are found in olive oil, had better cognition. So protecting one’s cognitive abilities is as simple as replacing the bad fat in your food with good.