High Fat Diet Affects Energy Levels & Physical Performance

Eat a heavy meal (high in saturated fats) on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and you feel like a ton of bricks, wanting to lie down and take a long siesta. Does eating such high fat meals over a period of a few months make us lethargic and mentally slow, with muscles wanting to rest up and our brain function not as sharp as before?

Well, a recent study published in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (The FASEB Journal) by Dr Andrew J. Murray's team, states that over a short period of time (a few months) in rats, a high fat diet can negatively affect and impair cognitive /brain function as well as muscle capability and exercise capacity.

Will these results hold good for humans? The team isn't sure, but feels a lower fat diet could positively affect an athlete's energy levels and their muscle function.

In the study, over a few months 32 rats that had been fed a high fat diet (55% calories from fat) ran 35% less efficiently and a shorter distance on a treadmill as well as showed clear signs of lower cognitive thinking i.e. reduced memory capability, when compared to rats on a 7.5% kcal from fat diet. They simply could find their way through mazes as efficiently as before.

According to Dr Murray "these results suggest that high-fat feeding, even over short periods of time, alters skeletal muscle UCP3 expression, while affecting energy production and physical performance."

In his teams study Dr. Murray further alludes to reasoning and says "Optimization of nutrition to maximize the efficiency of mitochondrial ATP production could improve energetics in athletes and patients with metabolic abnormalities."

In simple terms, a high fat diet not only impacts your risk factors for developing heart disease and obesity, in a few short months it might make you slow and lazy.

Our recommendations:    
Consume a nutritious diet that provides no more than 30% of your day's caloric intake from fat calories.

Article by: www.NutritionVista.com

Reference: The FACEB Journal - Deterioration of physical performance and cognitive function in rats with short-term high-fat feeding
Andrew J. Murray, Nicholas S. Knight, Lowri E. Cochlin, Sara McAleese, Robert M. J. Deacon, J. Nicholas P. Rawlins, and Kieran Clarke



Keywords: High fat diet, cognitive function, physical performance, skeletal muscle UCP3 expression, optimization of nutrition