Ultra-processed foods<\/a>, which are foods that contain a slew of additives, preservatives, and artificial ingredients, already are known to be harmful to human health in a variety of ways. But Ben Katz, associate professor of human development and family science at Virginia Tech, and Brenda Davy, a professor of human nutrition, foods, and exercise, set out to explore which of these foods may be associated with a greater risk of altering a person\u2019s brain health.<\/p>\nBy the end of the study period, they found a 17% increase in cognitive issues among people who consumed at least one serving of ultra-processed meat a day. And for each serving of soda consumed, there was a 6% increase in cognitive impairment.<\/p>\n
Participants were evaluated based on their answers to questions that tested memory, such as immediate and delayed recall. The tests, based on certain global cognition measurements, also included counting numbers backwards or subtracting multiple times in a row. These tests reveal different levels of cognitive function from mild impairment, including people who are in a pre-dementia stage, to those who have more serious declines.<\/p>\n
These kinds of evaluations are common when testing brain health, says Katz, who is principal investigator for the study and leads a cognitive aging and translational science lab at Virginia Tech.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of this is looking for your risk for something,\u201d he says. \u201cNo one wants a higher risk of having dementia or Alzheimer\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
The results suggest an important wake-up call for people who want to keep their brain sharp as they age.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to understand when and why people have early stages of cognitive impairment,\u201d Katz says. \u201cPhysicians should be able to take this back to their patients and tell them that those dietary choices matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The specific categories of ultra-processed foods that impacted brain health were surprising to Katz and Davy.<\/p>\n
After all, this is one of the first studies that breaks down different categories of ultra-processed foods and evaluates the specific impact of them on brain health.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe some of those are still bad for cardiovascular health, but when we see impacts on cognition, it looks like a lot of this is driven really meaningfully by a couple of these categories that often make up substantial parts of our diets,\u201d Katz says.<\/p>\n
The study\u2019s results suggest that paying attention to what you eat, reading labels, and making simple food swaps is more important than ever, Davy says. For instance, there are some deli meats that are healthier and not ultra processed, so consumers should opt for those instead.<\/p>\n
Davy also suggests that people cook meals as much as possible at home and choose water over sugary beverages.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are things that you can change,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s moderation and being reasonable and balanced in your dietary choices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both researchers are continuing their work surrounding ultra processed foods and cognition. Currently, their findings from a study evaluating young adults and ultra-processed foods are under review.<\/p>\n
With future grants, they\u2019d like to teach cooking skills and healthy dietary patterns to individuals with the goal of evaluating how cooking skills development improves what people eat and how it may impact brain function.<\/p>\n
A big reason why ultra-processed foods are attractive is because they are convenient options for busy people, especially if their time and cooking skills are limited, Davy says.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why offering cooking instruction could be a key to better dietary choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to follow a diet, but it\u2019s another thing to give them the cooking skills to prepare that diet,\u201d Katz says.<\/p>\n
Source: Virginia Tech<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Share this Article You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. Researchers have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[1491,299,97,269],"class_list":{"0":"post-210998","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-brains","9":"tag-food","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}