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Low-carb diet may blur memory

Low-carbohydrate diets may make people's short-term memory a little foggy, but they could improve people's ability to focus

Low-carb diet may blur memory

Low-carbohydrate diets may make people's short-term memory a little foggy, but they could improve people's ability to focus and pay attention. Past research has shown that people feel less fatigued and do better on tests requiring attention and vigilance after a high-protein meal compared to a high-carbohydrate meal. To investigate how low-carbohydrate diets might impact thinking and mood, researchers from America asked 19 women to chose either a low-calorie, balanced diet recommended by the American Dietetic Association (ADA), or a low-carbohydrate diet in which they cut out carbohydrates completely for a week and then gradually reintroduced them to their diets. The participants completed several tests of mood and cognitive function 72 hours before they began the diets and 48 hours, one week, two week and three weeks after starting the diet. The nine women who chose the low-carbohydrate diet fared worse on tests of their memory during the first week of the diet, when no carbohydrates were allowed, than the 10 women on the ADA diet. Once they started eating carbohydrates again, the memory differences between the two groups disappeared. However, after the first week, the low-carbohydrate group performed better on a test of sustained attention than the ADA group. They also reported feeling less confused. The above findings indicate that though a diet low on carbohydrates help reducing weight and improving attention, it could blur the memory.
Appetite
February 2009

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