- There are several things that a person does within the first years of life that can have a lasting impact on their brain health as they age, including eating a healthy diet.
- A new study suggests that consuming unhealthy foods during childhood can affect how the brain regulates eating in the long term.
- Researchers found that interventions targeting the gut microbiome might reverse these negative effects in a mouse model.
Previous research shows there are several things that a person does within the first years of life that can have a lasting impact on their brain health as they age, such as cognitive engagement, avoiding head injuries, developing healthy sleeping habits, being physically active, and eating a healthy diet.
Now, a new study published in the journal
However, researchers found that interventions targeting the gut microbiome might be able to reverse these negative effects, via a mouse model.
For this study, researchers examined how unhealthy eating early in life might impact brain health later in life.
“Children today are growing up in food environments where high-fat, high-sugar options are everywhere, at parties, at sports events, and as rewards,” Harriët Schellekens, PhD, BSc, MSc, senior lecturer in the Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience at University College Cork in Ireland, principal investigator with Food for Health Ireland (FHI), group leader with APC Microbiome Ireland and lead principal investigator of this study, told Medical News Today.
“As both a scientist and a parent, I started asking: what are the long-term effects of growing up in that kind of environment?” she said.
“We now know that brain health is influenced by diet and lifestyle from very early in life. Nutrition, movement, sleep, and even the gut microbiota interact with brain circuits that regulate mood, appetite, and cognition. By understanding these pathways, we can identify realistic, preventative strategies that support brain health long before problems emerge,” she explained.
Using a mouse model, researchers found that consuming a high-fat, high-sugar diet early in life may cause enduring changes in how the brain controls eating, even after the unhealthy diet is discontinued.
These changes were linked to the hypothalamus, which plays an important role in satiety and helps control appetite.
“(This) suggests early diet may do more than just influence body weight in the short term — it may shape how the brain’s appetite systems develop,” Schellekens explained. “In our model, we saw that even after the unhealthy diet was stopped, there were persistent changes in food preference and in the brain pathways that regulate eating behavior.”
“That matters because it supports the idea that early life is a sensitive developmental window. If dietary exposure during that period can influence how appetite circuits are wired or regulated, it helps explain why early eating patterns can have long-term effects. Of course, we must be cautious in translating directly to humans, but the findings provide biological insight into why early nutrition may be so important.”
— Harriët Schellekens, PhD, BSc, MSc
Additionally, Schellekens and her team discovered that interventions using gut microbiota, including the gut bacteria Bifidobacterium longum, might help prevent the negative impact of unhealthy eating on brain health as we age.
“The significance (of this finding) is that it suggests the gut microbiota may be part of the mechanism linking early diet to long-term changes in eating behavior,” Schellekens said.
“In our study, [w]e targeted the microbiota, including using prebiotics or a specific strain of Bifidobacterium longum APC1472, which we previously had shown to have metabolic benefits. We were able to reduce some of the long-term effects we observed,” she continued.
“[Using probiotics to reduce long-term effects is] important because it indicates these changes may not be fixed or irreversible. It opens up the possibility that microbiota-targeted strategies could help support healthier appetite regulation.”
— Harriët Schellekens, PhD, BSc, MSc
MNT spoke with Dung Trinh, MD, internist for the MemorialCare Medical Group and chief medical officer of the Healthy Brain Clinic in Irvine, CA, who commented that his first reaction is that this is a useful reminder that early eating patterns can leave a long “biological imprint” that isn’t always obvious on the surface.
“In this study, even after the animals returned to a healthier diet and their weight normalized, their eating behaviors and the brain circuits involved in regulating food intake still showed lasting changes,” Trinh continued. “The other thing that stood out is the message of plasticity. The researchers weren’t just describing harm — they tested microbiome-targeted approaches and saw partial normalization of those behaviors.”
“It’s early, and it’s in mice, so it’s not a treatment recommendation for people, but it supports something we see clinically: weight alone doesn’t tell the whole story, and biology — and behavior — can be shaped over time.”
— Dung Trinh, MD
Trinh said it’s important for researchers to continue finding new ways for people to improve their brain health through healthy lifestyle choices, because brain health isn’t determined by a single factor.
“It’s the cumulative effect of years of sleep, nutrition, physical activity, stress, social connection, and cardiometabolic Health,” he explained. “Lifestyle is also where we have the most scalable opportunity: even modest improvements can reduce risk across multiple systems at once.”
“Research like this helps in two ways,” Trinh continued. “It strengthens the ‘why’ behind lifestyle advice by uncovering mechanisms — here, a gut–brain pathway that may influence appetite regulation. (And) it helps us move from generic advice ‘eat better’ to more personalized, practical strategies — who benefits most, when interventions matter most, and which changes are likely to stick.”
“The key point for the public is: you can’t change the past, but you can change the trajectory. The earlier you start, the better — but meaningful benefits can happen at any age.”
— Dung Trinh, MD
For readers who wish to improve their gut microbiome to help negate the effects of unhealthy eating early in life on brain health, MNT spoke with Monique Richard, MS, RDN, LDN, a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of Nutrition-In-Sight.
Richard said that while she lets her clients and patients know that their diet early in life, including their mother and father’s diet preconception, and whether they were breastfed or formula fed, influences the gut, today’s choices still matter — it’s never too late to improve your internal ecosystem.
“While early-life nutrition influences microbial colonization and neural development, the microbiome remains dynamic across the lifespan,” Richard told MNT. “Dietary diversity and fiber intake are consistently associated with greater microbial diversity in adults, which can support metabolic and cognitive resilience.”
Richard offered some basic tips to support the diversity and Health of the gut microbiome, including:
- Prioritize dietary fiber daily with variety
- Focus on whole grains, such as oats, barley, and quinoa
- Add legumes, such as beans, lentils, and peas, to your diet.
- Focus on fruits like berries, citrus, apples, and pears.
- Eat plenty of vegetables, especially cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and cauliflower, and leafy greens.
- Snack on nuts and seeds.
- Decrease refined sugar and saturated fat intake.
And when it comes to prebiotics and probiotics, Richard said to use them with intention.
“Prebiotic fibers such as garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, chicory, and bananas selectively nourish beneficial microbes and produce functional postbiotics (SCFAs),” she detailed.
“Probiotic-rich foods with live, active cultures such as kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha can help support diversity and balance. Work with a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) and your healthcare team to explore specific probiotic strains appropriate per individual that may address GI conditions and symptoms, or mood and stress pathways,” she added.
“It’s not about ‘undoing’ our diet in the early-life years, but about giving the gut and brain the environment and resources to heal, adapt, and thrive,” Richard concluded.
