(CNN) — Whether you're trying to adhere to the Mediterranean, DASH, or MIND diets, eating more ultra-processed foods can increase your risk of cognitive decline and stroke, a new study finds.
All three diets are plant-based and focus on consuming more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and seeds, while limiting sugar, red meat and ultra-processed foods.
“In this study, a 10 percent increase in ultra-processed food intake was associated with a 16 percent increased risk of cognitive impairment,” said cardiologist Andrew, director of cardiovascular prevention and health management at National Jewish Health in Denver. Dr. Freeman said. He was not involved in this research.
“You can always infer that, 'If there's a 100% increase in ultra-processed food intake, that person has a 160% chance of developing cognitive impairment,'” he said. “Of course, this study only shows an association, not a direct cause and effect.”
Meanwhile, eating more unprocessed or minimally processed foods is associated with a 12 percent lower risk of cognitive impairment, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Neurology.
Unprocessed foods include fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, and milk. Minimally processed foods include cooking ingredients such as salt, herbs, and oils, and foods such as canned and frozen vegetables that combine cooking ingredients with unprocessed foods.
Ultra-processed foods include prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza, ready meals, hot dogs, sausages, french fries, soda, store-bought cookies, cakes, candy, donuts, ice cream and other indulgences.
Experts say these foods are typically high in calories, have added sugar and salt, and are low in fiber. All of these can lead to cardiometabolic health problems, weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Increased risk of stroke
The study analyzed data from 30,000 participants in the REGARD (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) study, a nationally diverse group of people who were 50% white and 50% black and followed for up to 20 years.
Dr. W. Taylor Kimberly, a neurologist and director of neurocritical care in Massachusetts, found that people who added the most ultra-processed foods to their diets ate the least processed foods. They had an 8% higher risk of stroke compared to humans. A general hospital in Boston.
For black participants, the risk rose to 15%, likely due to the effect ultra-processed foods have on high blood pressure in that population, Kimberly said. However, the study found that eating more unprocessed or minimally processed foods reduced the risk of stroke by 9%.
What is it about ultra-processed foods that could thwart your efforts to maintain a healthy diet? It said it has poor ingredients and tends to spike blood sugar levels, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, obesity, increased blood pressure and high cholesterol.
May is a medical researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and Gao is a graduate student in nutrition at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, also in Boston. Neither person was involved in this study.
Type 2 diabetes, obesity, elevated blood pressure, and high cholesterol are all major risk factors for heart and brain vascular disease, the researchers wrote.
The vascular effects leading to stroke and cognitive decline could also be due to “the presence of additives such as emulsifiers, colours, sweeteners and nitrates/nitrites, which are associated with disruption of the gut microbial ecosystem and inflammation”, the researchers added.
The growing dangers of ultra-processed foods
There's a mountain of research on the dangers of eating ultra-processed foods: A February review of 45 meta-analyses involving nearly 10 million people found that eating 10% more ultra-processed foods increased the risk of developing or dying from dozens of adverse health conditions.
This 10% increase is considered a “baseline” and experts say the risk may increase with increased consumption of ultra-processed foods.
The study found strong evidence that high intakes of ultra-processed foods increased the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and common mental disorders by about 50%.
The researchers also found highly suggestive evidence that increased intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with a 55% increased risk of obesity, 41% increased risk of sleep disorders, 40% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and 20% increased risk of depression.
“There should be a label in the ultra-processed foods section or on the packaging, like with cigarettes, saying: 'Warning, this food may have adverse health effects,'” Freeman said.
“What we think of as 'convenience foods' really needs to change from packets of crisps to apples and carrots that are shelf-stable and can be carried in handbags or backpacks,” he says. “And we need to make things like that more readily available, especially for our children and in food deserts where all the food available is often ultra-processed.”
