Limiting the consumption of ultra-processed food may reduce cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults, the results of a new study show.
Ultra-processed foods are packaged foods made using many manufactured ingredients that are combined to make something that is edible but doesn’t maintain the integrity or nutritional content of the original foods, according to the MD Anderson Cancer Center. These foods have been linked to adverse health outcomes such as obesity, cancer, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality.
Using data from a population study in Brazil, investigators analyzed daily ultra-processed food consumption in more than 10,000 participants with an average age of 52 years at baseline. Participants who reported extreme calorie intake and those taking medication that could negatively interfere with cognitive performance were excluded.
20% of daily calories
During a follow-up period of approximately eight years, participants whose consumption of ultra-processed foods exceeded 20% of their total daily calories more quickly lost brain capabilities when compared with participants who consumed less than that amount, the researchers reported.
High consumption of these foods was linked to a 28% faster rate of global cognitive decline and a 25% faster rate of executive function decline.
What’s more, the percentage of daily energy derived from eating these foods was associated with cognitive decline in participants with a low healthy diet score. But there was no association between eating these foods and cognitive decline in those with a high healthy diet score.
“Intact cognitive function is key to successful aging,” the researchers wrote. “Limiting ultra-processed foods consumption, particularly in middle-aged adults, may be an efficient form to prevent cognitive decline,” they concluded.
Full findings were published in JAMA Neurology.
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