Avoiding the habitual consumption of ultra-processed foods is a common recommendation of the medical class, for nutritional reasons and the medium and long-term conditions derived from this disordered diet. This is not to demonize these foods, but not to make them a continuing resource: Frozen pizza, hot dog, fries, cookies, soft drinks, ice cream… indeed, and according to the nutritional study made public this week by the magazine ‘JAMA Neurology’, this type of food represents (on average) more than 20% of the calories that we ingest daily. What hasn’t been discussed so much so far is that this poor diet can promote the onset of cognitive and functional deterioration.

What is an ultra-processed food?

By ultra-processed food is meant food which has an industrial formulation of food substances (oils, fats, sugars, starch and isolated proteins) containing little or no whole foods and often include flavorings, colorings, emulsifiers and other cosmetic additives. It is known that disordered calorie intake from ultra-processed foods can lead to obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart and coronary problems and certain types of cancer, due to the preservatives and dyes they containin addition to its high content of sugar, salt and polysaturated fats.

How does a poor diet affect the brain?

The the part of the brain that manages the ability to process information and make decisions is clearly affected by this poor diet, according to the study. Men and women who participated and had the aforementioned excessive consumption of ultra-processed foods had a 25% faster rate of executive function decline and a 28% faster rate of general cognitive decline, compared to compared to those who ate less. overly processed foods.

The study also offers other conclusions. If the overall quality of the diet was high, because the people tested also ate lots of unprocessed fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains and healthy sources of protein, the association between ultra-processed foods and cognitive decline has disappeared, explained Dr. David Katzspecialist in preventive medicine and nutrition.

The study, developed by a team of doctors and researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil)was presented to the society in August this year, at the 2022 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in San Diego (USA).

The study is long and the human sample is large. I know analyzed the eating habits of 10,000 Brazilians over 10 years, with a majority of women, whites, university students and with an average age of 51 years. Cognitive tests performed at the start and end of the study focused on immediate and delayed word recall, word recognition and verbal fluency. An additional fact: 58% of the calories consumed by American citizens, 56.8% of the calories consumed by British citizens and 48% of the calories consumed by Canadians come from ultra-processed foods.

scientific reference

Gonçalves, NG, Ferreira, NV, Khandpur, N., Steele, EM, Levy, RB, Lotufo, PA, … & Suemoto, CK (2022, August). Consumption of ultra-processed foods and cognitive decline in the ELSA-Brasil study: a prospective study. In the international conference of the Alzheimer’s Association. ALZ.