Pilots of Western diet and binge drinking: Effects on the mouse brain

Western Diet is linked to neurodegenerative diseases and negative brain health outcomes while binge drinking can cause neurodegeneration without any nutritional deficiency. Yet, the combination of these two together, commonly seen amongst college students, and their impacts on the brain are poorly understood. Here, 8-week-old mice were assigned to one of eight groups: male/female AIN, AIN+Binge, Western, or Western+Binge. Enzymatic assays were used to measure brain health following 12 weeks of treatment. Results are forthcoming but preliminary data indicates distinct sex differences, and that binge drinking has no further detriment on brain health in the presence of western diet.