A groundbreaking study led by the University of Southern California (USC) reveals concerning evidence about the long-term impacts of a junk food diet on adolescent brain development. This research, crucial in understanding the gut-brain axis, was published in the prestigious journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

“What we see not just in this paper, but in some of our other recent work, is that if these rats grew up on this junk food diet, then they have these memory impairments that don’t go away,” explained Scott Kanoski, a professor of biological sciences at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences.