Processed food increases dementia risk
🧠 Dementia.
It’s one of the most tragic and terrifying things to witness in others and something nobody ever wishes to face themselves.
While there are some risk factors we cannot control (like age and genetics), there are others that we CAN.
📋 Now we have a new study showing that dementia risk increases from eating a diet high in processed foods.
Let’s look at the details.
The study looked at data from more than 72,000 adults over the age of 55 in the United Kingdom. None had dementia at the start of the study, and they were followed for 10 years.
🔹 Ultra-processed foods made up 9% of the diet in the lowest group and 28% of the diet in the highest group.
🔹 For every 10% increase in daily intake of processed foods, there was a 25% higher risk of dementia.
🔹 Replacing 50 grams of processed foods with 50 grams of unprocessed foods (like an apple or a serving of corn) reduced dementia risk by 3%.
This was an observational study, which means it does not prove that processed foods cause dementia. It only shows there is an association between the two.
Still.
🍎 What do you have to lose by replacing a can of soda with a piece of fresh fruit?
Reference
Li H, Li S, Yang H et al. Association of Ultraprocessed Food Consumption With Risk of Dementia: A Prospective Cohort. Neurology. 2022. [link]
Tracey Mixon is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner, certified functional medicine health coach, and Founder of Desire To Live Now. After a lifelong battle with autoimmune disease, Tracey was introduced to Functional Medicine in 2012 which not only transformed her health but her life. Tracey became a nurse practitioner to help anyone who desires to optimize their health with lifestyle medicine and combat health disparities amongst minority communities.