{"id":314728,"date":"2026-02-24T13:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/314728\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T13:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:15:07","slug":"childhood-exposure-to-poor-food-can-lead-to-lasting-changes-in-brain-function-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/314728\/","title":{"rendered":"Childhood exposure to poor food can lead to lasting changes in brain function \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Lasting brain changes can be caused by eating the kind of unhealthy food that has become a \u201croutine part\u201d of early childhood at birthday parties, school celebrations and sporting events, according to a new study.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The researchfrom <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/university-college-cork-ucc\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/university-college-cork-ucc\/\">University College Cork<\/a> (UCC) found that healthy eating shapes lifelong brain health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">It highlights that frequent consumption of unhealthy food in childhood can shape preferences and establish unhealthy eating patterns that persist into adulthood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Children today are growing up in food environments saturated with high-fat and high-sugar options that are readily accessible and heavily promoted. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Long-lasting changes in how the brain regulates eating can be caused when an unhealthy diet has been consumed in early life and can continue even when the unhealthy diet is stopped and body weight is normalised.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">However, gut bacteria can help restore healthy eating. The research, published in Nature Communications, found eating foods such as onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus and bananas, which contain a specific strain of beneficial gut bacteria, prebiotic fibres or galacto-oligosaccharides, could help prevent such effects when administered throughout life. These can also be found in fortified foods and prebiotic supplements. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Exposure to a high-fat, high-sugar diet during early life in a preclinical mouse model led to persistent alterations in feeding behaviour in adulthood. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">These behavioural changes were linked to lasting disruptions in the adult hypothalamus, a key brain region involved in appetite control and energy balance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The research led by UCC in partnership with the University of Seville, the University of Gothenburg and Teagasc Food Research Centre.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cOur findings show that what we eat early in life really matters,\u201d said Dr Cristina Cuesta-Mart\u00ed, first author of the study. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link\">[\u00a0<a aria-label=\"Open related story\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/2026\/01\/06\/opinion-forget-fibermaxxing-or-guzzling-kimchi-opt-for-a-diet-thats-better-for-you-and-the-planet\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Forget fibermaxxing or guzzling kimchi \u2013 opt for a diet that\u2019s better for you and the planetOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cEarly dietary exposure may leave hidden, long-term effects on feeding behaviour that are not immediately visible through weight alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Dr Harriet Schellekens, lead investigator of the study, said \u201ccrucially, our findings show that targeting the gut microbiota can mitigate the long-term effects of an unhealthy early-life diet on later feeding behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">UCC\u2019s Prof John Cryan said such studies exemplify how fundamental research can lead to potential innovative solutions for major societal challenges. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lasting brain changes can be caused by eating the kind of unhealthy food that has become a \u201croutine&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[103,61,60,446,13354],"class_list":["post-314728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nutrition","tag-university-college-cork-ucc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}