Scientists from Tianjin Medical University found that people who eat the highest amounts of ultra-processed foods like soft drinks, chips, and cookies may have a higher risk of developing dementia than those who eat the lowest amounts.
They also found that replacing ultra-processed foods in a person’s diet with unprocessed or minimally processed foods was linked to a lower risk.
The research is published in Neurology and was conducted by Huiping Li et al.
Ultra-processed foods are high in added sugar, fat and salt, and low in protein and fiber.
They include soft drinks, salty and sugary snacks, ice cream, sausage, deep-fried chicken, yogurt, canned baked beans and tomatoes, ketchup, mayonnaise, packaged guacamole and hummus, packaged breads and flavored cereals.
In the study, the team examined 72,083 people from the UK Biobank. Participants were aged 55 and older and did not have dementia at the start of the study.
They were followed for an average of 10 years. By the end of the study, 518 people were diagnosed with dementia.
On average, ultra-processed foods made up 9% of the daily diet of people in the lowest group, an average of 225 grams per day, compared to 28% for people in the highest group, or an average of 814 grams per day.
In the lowest group, 105 of the 18,021 people developed dementia, compared to 150 of the 18,021 people in the highest group.
The researchers found that for every 10% increase in daily intake of ultra-processed foods, people had a 25% higher risk of dementia.
The researchers also used study data to estimate what would happen if a person substituted 10% of ultra-processed foods with unprocessed or minimally processed foods, like fresh fruit, vegetables, legumes, milk and meat.
They found that such a substitution was associated with a 19% lower risk of dementia.
The results also show increasing unprocessed or minimally processed foods by only 50 grams a day, which is equivalent to half an apple, a serving of corn, or a bowl of bran cereal, and simultaneously decreasing ultra-processed foods by 50 grams a day, equivalent to a chocolate bar or a serving of fish sticks, is associated with 3% decreased risk of dementia.
The team says that ultra-processed foods are associated with an increased risk of dementia and replacing them with healthy options may decrease dementia risk.
It’s encouraging to know that small and manageable changes in diet may make a difference in a person’s risk of dementia.
If you care about dementia, please read studies about how to prevent frontotemporal dementia, and high blood pressure may double your risk of this brain disease.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies about turmeric compound that could improve blood pressure, and results showing Vitamin C, but not vitamin E, linked to lower risk of heart failure.
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