Key Findings
UNH researchers found that greater consumption of dietary fat, primarily from milk and cheese products, improved cognitive function in a large cohort of Hispanic/Latino adults, an important finding for improving brain health through food.
About the CO-Author
Sherman Bigornia, Assistant Professor of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems
Contact information: Sherman.Bigornia@UNH.edu, 603-862-2413, UNH FindScholars page
This research first published in British Journal of Nutrition.
Researchers: N. Karazurna, C. Porter, S. Aytur, T. Scott, J. Mattei, S. Feldeisen, H. Gonzales, Y. Mossavar-Rahmani, D. Sotres-Alvarez, L. Gallo, M. Daviglus, L. Van Horn, T. Elfassy, M. Gellman, A. Moncrieft, K. Tucker, R. Kaplan, and S. Bigornia
Researchers from the University of New Hampshire have found that greater consumption of certain types of saturated fatty acids primarily found in whole milk and cheeses is associated with better overall cognitive function in Hispanic/Latino adults, according to an article published in the British Journal of Nutrition.
The findings suggest that some forms of saturated fats may be healthier for cognitive function than previously believed, and could prompt a re-evaluation of the role of saturated fatty acids in diets. The research, which used data from 8,942 participants in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, could also help dietitians better tailor public health recommendations by subdividing data based on ethnicity and specific types of saturated fats.
Lead author Nikki Karazurna, who received her master’s degree in nutritional science from UNH, noted that while more research is needed to expand on the findings, the study highlights the benefits that dietary fats may offer and the importance of not treating all fats the same. Research on the health implications of fat consumption has often produced conflicting results. To side-step the limitations of previous studies, which only looked at total saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat consumption, Karazurna analyzed how individual fats of different lengths influenced cognition.
“Food is part of everyone's life and can have preventive health benefits. With that being said, there are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation about what foods are 'good' or 'bad' for you, with dietary fat often mistaken as a 'bad' food.”
"To put it simply, this research is important because everyone eats! Food is part of everyone's life and can have preventive health benefits," says Nikki Karazurna, '20G. "With that being said, there are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation about what foods are 'good' or 'bad' for you, with dietary fat often mistaken as a 'bad' food."
Sherman Bigornia, assistant professor of nutrition, said that the findings represent a call-to-action on re-evaluating the role of saturated fatty acids in diets and that they provide support that whole fat dairy products may be part of a healthy dietary pattern for brain health. "Our research provides some support that whole fat dairy products may be part of a healthy dietary pattern for brain health," he says.
The research was conducted as part of Karazurna's master’s thesis in nutritional science in Bigornia's lab and was funded by multiple grants from the National Institute of Health. Bigornia is currently expanding the research to include an additional cohort from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study and waiting for the results of a six-year follow-up on the HCHS/SOL cohort to add a time component to the data and reinforce the study’s findings.
Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
