(NaturalNews) If you think eating and drinking foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) every now and again will not do you that much harm, think again. A new study out of the(UCLA) has found that consuming HFCS can actually destroy memory, slow mental function, and ultimately deteriorate brain performance.For their study, a team of researchers first trained a group of rats to navigate a complicated maze for five days, and then divided this group into two smaller groups. Both groups were then fed a solution containing HFCS as their drinking water for two weeks, while only one group was given flaxseed oil, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a specific type of omega-3 fatty acid, as part of a supplement regimen.At the end of this six-week period, both groups of rats were put back in the maze to see how they performed at navigating it. Upon observation and analysis, the UCLA team discovered that the group fed only the HFCS solution had reduced synaptic activity in the brain, which resulted in rats having trouble figuring out the maze. The brain cells of these HFCS-affected rats literally could not signal properly, which illustrates a clear link between consumption of this highly-processed sugar and brain damage."Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats' ability to think clearly and recall the route they'd learned six weeks earlier," said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at theat UCLA, about the rats that consumed just the HFCS solution. "Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new."Beyond just brain damage, the team also found that, without supplemental DHA and omega-3s, HFCS consumption leads to insulin resistance because of the particular way fructose appears to disrupt neuronal function and the brain's absorption of insulin. This discovery confirms that HFCS, even more-so than glucose and other forms of processed sugar, is definitively and uniquely linked to causing diabetes, despite claims by the(CRI) to the contrary."Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," added Gomez-Pinilla, confirming what we have been saying here atfor a long time. "Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage."