Dieting anxiety could reduce memory instead of calories
DIET to lose those fat contours
and you lose your memory too
- warn researchers at the
Institute of Food Research in
the UK. Rejecting poor nutrition or lack of energy as causes
for poor mental performance
of dieters, scientists conclude
that the cause is actually
psychological, says a report
in New Scientist, Vol 148, No 1999.
"The effects are similar to
anxiety", says Mike Green, the
psychologist at the Institute.
The loss of mental efficiency is 2
attributed to the constant worrying about diet. "Constant
thinking about food means that dieters
don't haVe enough mental processing
capacity to deal with tasks properly",
says Greew. This plays havoc with their
memory, besides impairing their power
of concentration.
A series of experiments was conducted on about 70 volunteers, to measure their mental performance in areas
such as vigilance, speed of reaction,
mental processing capacity and memory. Subsequently, researchers found out
which of them were dieters. The deficits
in mental performance were invariably
in dieters, "typically the same as what
would be expected in someone who had
just drunk two units of alcohol". A second round of tests, in which people eating normally were tested and then put
on diets, or dieters were tested and sub-
sequently were made to eat normally,
confirmed this finding.
Interestingly, mental performance is
not impaired in people who eat less for
health reasons and not for slimming
purposes. This means that only those
who are actiyely trying to lose weight
put their memory and concentration at
stake. Researchers found that dieters
with failing diets are the worst hit. They
are gripped by panic, and are, as Green
puts it, "the most anxious and the most
distracted people".
Finally, researchers suggest that
people should avoid 'yo-yo' dieting -
alternating between ordinary eating and
dieting."It really screws up people's
metabolism", says Green. So to avoid
the onslaught on your memory, just eat
sensibly - so goes the message.
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