People Who Eat Junk Food Have Smaller Hippocampi, Australian Researchers Say

I bet this still won't be enough for your doctor to contact the hospital nutritionists and have them create a stroke diet protocol. The patients may not have access to these problems while in the hospital but that doesn't excuse not having a diet protocol when discharged from the hospital. That lack of responsibility is a fireable offense in my book.
http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/news/2015/09/people-who-eat-junk-food-have-smaller-hippocampi-australian-researchers-say?
A person who eats more junk food has a smaller part of the brain used in emotion, memory and learning, says a first-of-its kind study from Australian scientists.
Earlier studies had shown the correlation between unhealthy diets and reduced brain size in mice, but the new study published this week in the journal BMC Medicine was the first to actually measure humans’ gray matter and compare it against their dietary behavior.
“It is becoming even clearer that diet is critically important to mental as well as physical health throughout life,” said Felice Jacka, the lead author, from Deakin University. “This is the first study to show that this also appears to be the case for humans.”
MRIs measured the brains of 255 Australians aged 60 to 64, as part of a massive health study in that country. Diets were cross-referenced with the scans.
Those who ate sweet drinks, salted snacks, and processed meats had smaller left hippocampi, while those who ate vegetables, fruit and fish had bigger left hippocampi, the authors concluded. The connection existed independent of factors such as gender, exercise and smoking.
However, the study does not appear to draw a cause-and-effect relationship between the two, just an association.
“Recent research has established that diet and nutrition are related to the risk for depression, anxiety and dementia, however, until now it was not clear how diet might exert an influence on mental health and cognition,” Jacka said. “This latest study sheds light on at least one of the pathways by which eating an unhealthy diet may influence the risk for dementia, cognitive decline and mental disorders such as depression and anxiety in older people.”
Reduced hippocampus size has also been shown to correlate to dementia and related brain diseases.
The newest study on the hippocampus just confirms some scientific suspicions. As early as 2009, King’s College London researchers pointed to diet as a possible culprit in modulating hippocampus size and function.