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according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
According to a recent Pew Research Center study,
46 percent of Americans say they could not live without their smartphones. While this sentiment is clearly hyperbole, more and more people are becoming increasingly dependent on smartphones and other portable electronic devices for news, information, games, and even the occasional phone call.
Along with a growing concern that young people, in particular, may be spending too much time staring into their phones instead of interacting with others, come questions as to the immediate effects on the brain and the possible long-term consequences of such habits.
Hyung Suk Seo, M.D., professor of neuroradiology at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to gain unique insight into the brains of smartphone- and internet-addicted teenagers. MRS is a type of MRI that measures the brain's chemical composition.
The study involved 19 young people (mean age 15.5, 9 males) diagnosed with internet or smartphone addiction and 19 gender- and age-matched healthy controls. Twelve of the addicted youth received nine weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy, modified from a cognitive therapy program for gaming addiction, as part of the study.
Comment: Cholesterol levels derived from eating saturated fats are less inflammatory. Not only does the historical record support these conclusions, experience and organic chemistry 101 tells us that it cannot be otherwise. Grandma was right, you should eat your fatty bone broth. Saturated fat is good for you, and vegetable oils, in particular heated oils, are likely a significant contributor to the depositing of fatty substances of plaque on the inner lining of arterial walls, i.e. atherosclerosis.
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