Eating ultra-processed foods may hinder brain health during aging.

Benjamin Katz, associate professor of human development and family science at Virginia Tech, examines this relationship.

Ben Katz, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor within the Department of Human Development and Family Science and the Director of the Cognitive Aging and Translational Science Laboratory at Virginia Tech. His research focuses on the development of executive function throughout the lifespan. Executive function refers to a broad set of cognitive skills, including working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility, that are closely linked to our abilities to learn, reason, think and decide. He is particularly interested in how experience and intervention, ranging from cognitive training to non-invasive brain stimulation to lifestyle behaviors, like diet and exercise, might be used to modulate these processes, to help a range of individuals including older adults concerned about Alzheimer’s disease, or children and emerging adults in academic settings. He uses a wide range of methodologies, including multi-level analytic approaches and fMRI neuroimaging , in the context of this work.

Ultra-processed foods, which includes sugar-sweetened sodas, packaged deli meats, and ready-made snacks, have been closely linked to poorer physical health. Recent research has also connected consumption of ultra-processed foods to issues with brain health during aging. But the industrial processing involved in creating different foods varies widely. For example, while sugar-sweetened beverages might include artificial flavorings, a packaged deli-meat may be more likely to include high levels of sodium to extend shelf-life. In my lab, two of our graduate students, Elayna Seago and Maria Rego, worked with me and my colleague Brenda Davy to better understand how specific ultra-processed foods might be related to someone’s chance of developing dementia. We examined seven years of data from several thousands US older adults who completed a survey called the Health and Retirement Study, which includes information about diet and cognition. We found that only some ultra-processed foods were associated with a heightened risk of developing cognitive impairment, which can include issues with memory and attention. On average, each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages, like sodas, was linked to a 6% higher chance of developing cognitive impairment by the end of the study. And each additional daily serving of ultra-processed animal products, like packaged deli meats, was linked to a 17% higher risk of developing cognitive impairment. We didn’t identify increased risk from other ultra-processed foods, like dairy items or savory snacks. Next, we’re hoping to better understand which aspects of these foods might be linked to worse brain health, as well as what specific neural mechanisms might be impacted. Our results show how important it is to consider these foods individually – a whole grain bread may have higher levels of processing but still be healthy overall. Each ultra-processed food is ultra-processed in different ways – with very different risks.

Read More:

[Science Direct] - Differential association of ultraprocessed food categories with risk of developing cognitive impairment in middle-aged and older adults in a longitudinal panel study

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