A new study conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, published in the journal Neuron, provides a unique insight into how fast food affects the brain’s memory center, increasing the risk of cognitive impairment. This new research opens the door to early interventions that can prevent long-term memory loss associated with obesity.

The researchers, led by Dr. Juan Song, principal investigator and professor of pharmacology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and Dr. Taylor Landry, lead researcher in the pharmacology department, found that a special group of brain cells in the hippocampus, called CCK interneurons, become hyperactive after a high-fat diet due to the brain’s impaired ability to process glucose (sugar). This hyperactivity disrupts the hippocampus’s memory processing mechanism, even after just a few days on a high-fat diet, according to Science Daily.