Ultra-processed Foods Are Linked to Dementia Risk in New Study. Here's What I'm Taking From It

Listen, we know we shouldn’t be eating tons of ultra-processed foods. But for many of us, I think, the exact danger feels a little hard to pinpoint…as does the real definition of what an “ultra-processed” food actually is. On top of that, well…we face a lot of conflicting narratives about what we should and shouldn’t be eating. 

But here’s yet another reason to fear super processed foods: A recent study links even a small increase in ultra-processed food intake to an increase in dementia risk.

The study, which was published in the Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring journal, involved the analysis of over 2,000 adults. According to the study, each 10 percent increase in ultra-processed food intake is associated with lower attention scores and higher dementia risk. 

So why is this important? Well, taking this study’s findings into account matters in middle age, long before we reach the age when these issues typically show up. We’ve all heard that ultra-processed foods can increase our risk of developing several health conditions (diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, etc), but the idea that diet can really affect brain health is newer, as noted by the researchers. And the fact of the matter is, for younger women, those long-term risks feel less pressing than thinking about how our diet affects us in the shorter term. 

Does this mean eating a bag of chips every now and then is going to predispose you to dementia? No, not necessarily. But this study does something important: It encourages us to start thinking about how we want to age right now, and to start looking at nutrition, not just as a way for us to get our bodies to look a certain way, but to protect our long-term health.

I, like most women, have spent so much of my life being told that what I eat matters because it affects how I look. How it impacts my body’s size. But this research is eye-opening: As I approach middle age, I need to start thinking more about how I want to age and view nutrition and food as one factor — though certainly not the only factor — in how my life unfolds from here. 

There’s a lot to unpack in this study, and as always, it doesn’t prove an exact cause and effect, nor does it change the fact that sometimes, we have to go for the convenient, processed meal or snack. 

Here’s what it does, though, for me at least: It encourages me to think about food as something that can have a profound impact on how my body and my brain age over time. In a time when food and weight are being so closely linked, it's an important reminder: Food doesn't have moral value, but it does potentially have the power to affect how we age.