Fatty diet damages brain - study

A possible fat-stupidity connection.

SCIENTISTS have found a high-fat diet damages a crucial region of the brain that controls body weight in rodents and believe a similar process may occur in obese humans.

Within 24 hours of being fed high-fat foods, rats and mice developed inflammation followed by scarring in the hypothalamus, a region that regulates body weight and food intake in humans and rodents. Animals fed the diet continuously for four weeks developed chronic inflammation and neuron loss.

No wonder he was called "Dumbo."