Quote:
A 10% increase in relative intake of ultra-processed foods raised the risk of cognitive impairment by 16%
~snip~
A 10% increase in unprocessed or minimally processed foods reduced cognitive impairment risk by 12%
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Quote:
Scientists at Harvard Medical School looked at data from more than 30,000 adults aged 45 and over who were followed for 11 years. They filled out questionnaires about what food they ate and were divided into four groups ranging from those who ate the most processed foods to those who ate the least processed foods.
By the end of the study, 1,108 participants had had a stroke and 768 had been diagnosed with cognitive impairment — signs of early memory loss linked to dementia.
The risk of memory problems was 16 per cent higher in those who ate a greater proportion of ultra-processed foods compared with those who ate a largely unprocessed diet with lots of fresh fruit or vegetables. The risk of stroke increased by 8 per cent the more highly processed food people ate, regardless of how many calories they ate in total.
The findings were adjusted to take into account other factors that influence dementia and stroke risk, such as age, sex and high blood pressure.
Dr William Taylor Kimberly, lead author of the study, said: “We found that increased consumption of ultra-processed foods was associated with a higher risk of both stroke and cognitive impairment.
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Don't get me wrong - it's not that I think highly processed foods don't have anything to do with the risks of dementia and stroke - but even considering things like age, sex and high BP... it doesn't always work out like that.
My parents are a prime example of how it sometimes works out the exact opposite.
Dad loved his ice cream, cookies, candy, cake, and bread. But he still ate mostly plain, unadulterated meats, mostly beef (until at some point mom started serving him chicken and fish cooked in olive oil most of the time to "protect his heart"), and plain unadulterated vegetables (albeit a rather limited selection) with real butter. He drank whole milk pretty much every day of his life. He had normal BP (or what was considered normal back then) He died at 77 from a heart attack after having a very mild stroke maybe 2 years earlier... but his mind was still intact.
Mom didn't eat ice cream or drink milk (dairy caused a lot of gastric distress), ate minimal cookies, and ate potatoes (considered to be unprocessed) far more than bread. She did love sugar, but not so much in candy form - she made cakes, often from what was considered to be minimally processed ingredients (oats, zucchini, dried fruit), but still limited how much she ate in the way of sweets (trying to keep her weight under control) She switched to using margarine sometime in the 1970's since it was non dairy, and supposedly healthier than butter, but used very tiny amounts of it. But other than that, they ate the same meats and veggies. Very low BP her entire life. She lived to just a few weeks shy of 93, after about 15 years of ever worsening dementia/Alzheimer's symptoms.
Overall, they both consumed far less highly processed food than it seems most people eat these days, and far more minimally processed food than most people eat these days.
The conclusion of this study is based on relative risk associated with specific dietary tendency categories. In every set of data supporting a certain risk, there will always be outliers though. I just happen to be closely related to 2 who seemed to be outliers.
But perhaps if Dad had lived another 10-15 years he would have exhibited severe dementia too.
And perhaps if mom had been able to eat ice cream and had been more carefree about how many cookies she ate, she would have also had a stroke, dying of a heart attack at a much younger age and avoided the years of dementia.
Brain Risks Drop When Diet Includes More Minimally Processed Foods
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