By: Karolina Starczak

Oct 13, 2009

Think coffee is the only way to stay focused and alert in the morning? Think again. As hard as it may be to believe, that greasy side of bacon everyone avoids might help kick the brain into high gear. A recent study done at the University of North Dakota, found that a high-fat diet may enhance mental performance in the people who undeniably need it the most—pilots.

Pilots have one of the most mentally demanding jobs, requiring split second decisions and unpredictable situations. It’s probably the reason why pilots from a university-based commercial aviation program were chosen as the subjects for a study focusing on mental performance. During the study, pilots were cycled through high-fat, high-carbohydrate, and high-protein nutrient diets and tested on their flight performance using a flight simulator. Two other tests were also administered to further assess cognitive function. Surprisingly, flight performance scores were significantly higher for pilots consuming a high-fat and high-carbohydrate diet, with high-fat being the ultimate winner.

As a society that has shunned carbs and fat for years the news may be quite shocking. While the reason for fat boosting mental performance may be more difficult to determine, especially since the study does not report the type of fat the pilots were consuming, carbohydrates have a pretty simple explanation. Consuming carbs improves cognitive function simply because glucose, which comes from carbohydrates, is the prime source of energy for the brain. It makes perfect sense that fueling the brain improves focus and reaction time, but what about fat?

Even though many studies link a diet high in saturated fat with mental decline, unsaturated fats actually protect our brain and nervous system. In fact, unsaturated fatty acids play a big role in the structure, function, and regulation of our nervous system. This is one of the reasons why a Mediterranean Diet rich in olive oil, an unsaturated fat, is thought to have so many benefits.

You may want to wait until the composition of the high-fat diet used in the study is evaluated before you run over to your fridge and toss every fat-free product in the garbage. Without more details, determining exactly why the pilots experienced improved mental performance is difficult and there is always the possibility that something else in the diet was responsible for the cognitive boost. Until then, drizzling a little olive oil on salad can’t hurt.

What are your thoughts on fat and mental performance?

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