The Plain Truth's: Your Health Today ONLINE: Poor diet 'causes lifetime damage': Foods full of fat, sugar and salt change the way genes work, say scientists

The damage caused by unhealthy eating can last a lifetime – even after going on a diet, according to research.

Scientists suggest that foods full of fat, sugar and salt change the way genes work and even swapping them for fish, fruit and vegetables cannot turn back the clock.

Tests on mice found that those fed a junk food diet were still more prone to hardening of the arteries even after treatment because the function of genes, including those vital to the immune system, had been altered in a process known as ‘epigenetics’.

Bad diet: Foods full of fat, sugar and salt change the way genes work, scientists say

Researcher Erik van Kampen, of Leiden University, Holland, said: 'I hope this study demonstrates the importance of diet induced changes in the epigenome and encourages further research into the interaction between dietary patterns, DNA methylation and disease.'