Researchers exposed juvenile rats to social instability using daily isolation and changes in cage partners and found that stressed rats that were fed a diet enriched in ω-3 PUFAs and vitamin A performed just as well on emotional and memory tests as nonstressed rats, and the enriched diet also normalized gut microbiome composition and hippocampal protein levels, both of which had been altered in the stressed rats; the detrimental effects of stress and the protective effects of the enriched diet were maintained through adulthood, suggesting long-term links between diet and cognitive function.
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Article #18-20832: "Preventing adolescent stress-induced cognitive and microbiome changes by diet," by Gustavo Provensi et al.
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Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences