An American study revealed that life in poor residential areas affects residents’ choices regarding food, and may result in weight gain and even changes in brain structure.
The study, published by the scientific journal Communications Medicine, showed that eating low-quality food in poor neighborhoods due to limited financial capabilities, and obtaining increasing amounts of calories from foods saturated with high proportions of fatty acids, without paying attention to exercising, affects the data processing mechanism within the brain. Regulating emotions and perception.
“We found that the negatives associated with poor residential areas are associated with changes in the cerebral cortex, and some of these changes are related to increased body mass index and high intake of saturated fats, such as those found in fried foods,” says researcher Arpana Gupta, head of the Goodman Laskin Center for Scientific Research. .
The study included 92 volunteers, including 27 men and 65 women in Los Angeles, USA. It included collecting demographic and vital data related to the volunteers’ body mass index, and the level of the residential neighborhoods under study was evaluated based on the Residential Neighborhoods Atlas of the College of Public Health at the University of Wisconsin in the USA.
Gupta added in statements reported by the Medical Express website, which specializes in medical research: “These results indicate that some parts of the brain that are related to emotions, information absorption, and understanding may be affected by the negative aspects of residential areas that are associated with obesity.”
The disadvantages of residential areas are defined as a group of factors that affect the residents of a particular area, such as low income, low level of education, overpopulation, and others.
He stressed that this study “highlights the importance of addressing problems related to food quality in poor areas in order to preserve brain health.”