The Worst Foods For Your Brain

Likely sources: Soups, sodas, yogurt and candy, among others.

What they have in common: Added sugar.

Science says: It's bad for your memory, too. A high-sugar diet made it harder for rats to remember where a specific object was located in a place they'd been to before, according to findings published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity. Inflammation was detected in the hippocampus, a crucial area for memory. High amounts of sugar can lead to inflammation in humans brains too, says Jennifer Molano, MD, associate professor of neurology and rehabilitation medicine at the University of Cincinnati, and it may make your brain less efficient at retrieving and processing information.

The amount it's okay to eat: The American Heart Association says women shouldn't go above 6 teaspoons of added sugar per day, which is the roughly the amount you'd get from one candy bar, about ¾ of a can of soda or a 6-ounce container of low-fat vanilla yogurt.