Put the burger and fries down – it’s not just your waistline that will thank you
Sausages, crisps, ice cream, soft drinks. Admit it, your mouth must be watering already. We refer to these foods as junk, and for good reason. Science calls them ultra-processed foods (UPFs) – basically any type of food with more than one ingredient that’s not usually found in a household kitchen. They’re high in fat, sugar and salt, and linked to over 30 (!) health conditions, including cancer and heart disease.
Another kind of brain drain
The sad truth is that over half of the energy (calories) an average person eats and drinks comes from UPFs. What’s worse is that UPFs are on the rise for two main reasons: convenience and cost. Another problem is that we’re not accustomed to checking the nutritional facts for harmful artificial additives and chemicals. Chances are, most of us wouldn’t know how to spot these, regardless. A study led by Australia’s Monash University has even more bad news because UPFs aren’t just hurting our waistlines, but our ability to focus, too. The findings were published in the journal ‘Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring’(opens in new window). An analysis of nearly 2 200 Australian adults between the ages of 40 and 70 revealed that higher UPF consumption was associated with worse attention scores, regardless of overall diet quality. The volunteers followed a Mediterranean diet – universally hailed as the benchmark for brain-healthy eating. Based on these results, UPFs could affect the brain’s ability to pay attention, even if we make better choices and mostly eat healthy foods. Participants completed a comprehensive 130-item food questionnaire detailing their dietary habits during the past 12 months. Some of the most commonly consumed UPFs were dairy-based desserts, soft drinks, packaged salty snacks, processed meats and ready meals.
Processing outweighs healthy diet benefits
Each food item was categorised based on its degree of industrial processing rather than nutritional value. Cognitive performance was evaluated through a validated online test measuring processing speed, visual attention, visual recognition memory and working memory. All these factors were merged into two scores: one for attention and one for memory. “To put our findings in perspective, a 10 per cent increase in UPFs is roughly equivalent to adding a standard packet of chips to your daily diet,” commented lead author Barbara Cardoso, senior lecturer at the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food and the Victorian Heart Institute, in a news release(opens in new window). “For every 10 per cent increase in ultra-processed food a person consumed, we saw a distinct and measurable drop in a person’s ability to focus.” The research team believes it’s the additives in UPF products that may be the issue. “Food ultra-processing often destroys the natural structure of food and introduces potentially harmful substances like artificial additives or processing chemicals,” Cardoso explained. “These additives suggest the link between diet and cognitive function extends beyond just missing out on foods known as healthy, pointing to mechanisms linked to the degree of food processing itself.”