The IAA One Minute Blog

Eating a lot of ultra-processed foods may dramatically increase your risk for dementia, according to a new study.

Ultra-Processed Foods and Your Brain

Ultra-processed foods are high in sugar, fat, and salt, but low in protein and fiber. Replacing these foods with healthier alternatives may lower the odds for dementia by 19 percent, the study found.

For the study, the team collected data on more than 72,000 people listed in the UK Biobank, a large database of health information of people in the United Kingdom. At the outset, participants were age 55 and older and none had dementia. Over an average of 10 years, 518 people developed dementia.

Researchers compared 18,000 people whose diets included little processed food with a like number who ate a lot of it.

Among the participants who ate the least amount of processed foods (about eight ounces a day) 100 developed dementia, compared to 150 of those who ate the most (about 28-29 ounces a day).

Drinks, sugary products, and ultra-processed dairy were the main contributors to ultra-processed food intake.

The researchers estimated that substituting 10 percent of ultra-processed foods with un-processed or minimally processed foods such as fresh fruit, vegetables, legumes, milk, and meat, could lower dementia risk by 19 percent.

The study doesn’t prove that eating ultra-processed foods increases the risk of dementia, only that there seems to be a link.

Cutting Down on Ultra-Processed Foods

Having less processed food in your diet can only be beneficial. Here are some strategies for making changes:

• Don’t be fooled by advertising: If you see fat or sugar-modified food, be wary. These may have artificial ingredients.
• Drink more water: Sugary beverages are high in sugar and calories, but low in essential nutrients. Gradually trading these drinks for water throughout the day is a great way to cut back in your intake of processed foods and improve your overall diet.
• Eat more vegetables: When you are preparing meals at home, include at least one serving of vegetables to increase your intake of healthy un-processed food.
• Get creative in the kitchen: Give your favorite processed foods a healthy twist by recreating them in your kitchen. This gives you complete control of what you’re putting on your plate while letting you experiment with new ingredients.
• Keep healthy snacks on hand: If you’re running short on time, grabbing a packaged snack on your way out the door may be tempting. However, keeping your kitchen stocked with plenty of portable, nutritious snacks can make it easier to make healthier choices on the go.
• Meal prepping: Prepping meals in large batches once or twice a week can make it much less tempting to hit the drive through on the way home or turn to frozen convenience meals when pressed for time.
• Swap refined grains for whole grains: Whole grains are higher in important nutrients like fiber, but they’ve also been shown to protect against conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
• Switch up your grocery routine: Next time you go to the grocery store fill your cart up with healthy, minimally processed ingredients. Also, be sure to read the labels on your favorite food products when you’re shopping.  

It is important to make changes slowly, as it is often more effective and sustainable in the long run.

What IAA has to Say

Insurance Administrator of America wants you to check what’s in your grocery cart! IAA knows processed foods are part of peoples’ daily meals, but it is important to balance it out with healthy un-processed foods.

Interested in reading more on this topic? Click here.