Processed Foods Linked to Worsened Brain Health

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If you’re looking to keep your brain healthy as you age, you may want to lay off the packaged pastries for breakfast, frozen pizza for lunch and ice cream in the evening. Accumulating research suggests that a diet chock-full of highly processed foods could contribute to a decline in memory and thinking skills.
A  study published July 27  in the journal Neurology found that the consumption of ultra-processed foods — we’re talking salty snacks, high-sugar treats and preservative-laden frozen dinners — were associated with a higher risk of dementia among a population of more than 72,000 participants ages 55 and older from the UK Biobank study. The team of researchers based at Tianjin Medical University in Tianjin, China, also discovered that replacing these processed foods with minimally processed options was associated with a 19 percent lower risk of dementia.
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A second study from Brazil of more than 10,000 middle-aged adults found that people who consumed the highest amounts of ultra-processed foods (more than 20 percent of their daily caloric intake) saw a faster decline in memory, planning and organizational skills over a span of several years, compared with those with lower consumption. The research was presented at the 2022 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Aug. 1.
“There are a lot of studies that have already shown that eating [healthy] is good for your heart, but we’re starting to see trends that eating a heart-healthy diet may also be good for your brain,” says Rebecca Edelmayer, senior director of scientific engagement for the Alzheimer’s Association.
A  2017 report  from AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health reached a similar conclusion — that what you eat impacts the health of your brain, and that foods high in salt, sugar, excess calories and saturated fats don’t do it any favors. Still,  an analysis of national data  published in BMJ Open found that ultra-processed foods represent more than half (58 percent) of all calories in the U.S. diet.
The food-brain relationship
Many foods that line the grocery store shelves are considered  processed . For example, bagged salads go through minimal processing; so do cans of beans and boxes of frozen vegetables.
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But the types of foods that these studies looked at “really go through a significant industrial process and contain large quantities of fats, sugars, salt, artificial flavors and colors, even stabilizers and preservatives,” Edelmayer says.
Most live in the center aisles of the grocery store, not the fresh and refrigerated sections along the perimeter. And when it comes to their potential impact on brain health, it’s important to remember that “the whole body is interconnected,” says Stephanie Kim Nothelle, M.D., a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine, who was not involved in either study.
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The brain is a highly vascular organ, Nothelle explains, and everything we eat gets absorbed into the bloodstream. “And so, if you’re eating something that’s really high in fat, or really high in salt, or really high in sugar, those things are going to be distributed throughout the body and have effects everywhere, including the brain,” Nothelle says.
Research shows that people with certain health conditions that can be influenced by a bad diet — heart disease,  high blood pressure  and diabetes, for example— are more likely to experience cognitive decline as they age.
Another thing to consider: It may not be what you're eating when you devour a packaged snack, but rather what you're not eating when you choose that highly processed option over, say, a piece of fruit, points out Paul Jacques, a senior scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging and a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
“There’s a lot of things in [whole] foods — a lot of phytochemicals, polyphenols — that have been associated with brain health that aren’t going to be found in most ultra-processed foods,” he says. These brain-boosting compounds are “hard to avoid” if you’re eating a mostly plant-based,  Mediterranean-style diet . You can find them in berries, onions, apples, leafy greens, even nuts and seeds. Fish is another food that research has shown may benefit the brain.
“The important thing [to think about] is what are the ultra-processed foods replacing,” Jacques says. “It’s really looking at your overall diet and seeing what’s in it.” And know that a handful of blueberries once a week won’t offset a steady stream of fast food, he adds.
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