Eating more ultra-processed foods associated with increased risk of dementia

According to a new study published in the July 27, 2022, online issue of the medical journal of the American, people who eat the highest amount of ultra-processed foods may have a higher risk of developing dementia than people who eat the lowest amount. Replacing ultra-processed foods in a person's diet was associated with a lower risk, according to researchers. There is no proof that dementia is caused by ultra-processed foods. It doesn't show any other associations.

Ultra-processed foods have added sugars, fat, and salt. They include soft drinks, salty snacks, ice cream, sausage, deep- fried chicken, yogurt, canned baked beans and tomatoes.

The author of the study said that ultra-processed foods diminish the quality of a person's diet. The negative effects on thinking and memory skills that have been shown in other studies are due to the fact that these foods contain food Additives or Molecules from packaging or produced during heating, all of which have been shown in other studies to have negative effects on thinking and memory skills. Replacing ultra-processed foods with healthy options may decrease the risk of dementia.

The UK Biobank contains the health information of half a million people in the United Kingdom. At the beginning of the study, participants were 55 years old and did not have dementia. They were followed for a long period of time. 518 people were diagnosed with Alzheimer's by the end of the study.

Participants in the study filled out questionnaires about their eating and drinking habits. To figure out how much ultra-processed food people eat, researchers compared the grams per day of other foods to the grams per day of ultra-processed food. Participants were divided into four equal groups based on their ultra-processed food consumption.

Ultra-processed foods make up 9% of the daily diet of people in the lowest group, an average of 222 grams per day, compared to 28% for people in the highest group, or an average of 814 grams per day. 150 grams is the equivalent of one serving of food. Sugary products and ultra-processed dairy contributed to the high intake of ultra-processed food.

The lowest group had more people develop dementia than the highest group.

Researchers found that people who increased their daily intake of ultra-processed foods had a 25% higher risk of dementia.

The study data was used to estimate what would happen if a person replaced 10% of their ultra-processed food with something else. The substitution was associated with a lower risk of dementia.

It's encouraging to know that small changes in diet can affect a person's risk of dementia.

There is more research that needs to be done to confirm the findings.

While nutrition research has begun to focus on food processing, the challenge is categorizing such foods as unprocessed, minimally processed, processed and ultra-processed. soup would be classified differently if it was canned It is not always aligned with diet quality. It is possible that plant-based burgers are also ultra-processed. We need to consider that more high-quality assessments may be required.

Milder cases of dementia may have been overlooked due to the limitation of the study.

The study was funded by a Chinese foundation.

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The materials come from the American Academy of Neurology. The content can be edited for style and length.