Ultra processed food closely associated with dementia risk: Study

Increased intake of ultra processed foods (UPF) was linked to a higher risk of dementia, says an article published in Neurology Journal. Huiping Li and colleagues also found out that replacing UPF with unprocessed or minimally processed foods decreased the risk of dementia.

Evidence linking intake of ultra processed foods to harmful health effects, such as depression, cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality, is accumulating. Therefore the researchers looked into the UK Biobank's data on dementia incidence and UPF to demonstrate the effect on our health. 

The UK Biobank study's 72,083 individuals (55 years of age or older) who were dementia-free at baseline and supplied at least two 24-hour dietary evaluations were analyzed. Monitoring continued until March 2021. According to the NOVA classification, UPF were defined. Through computerized connections to hospital and death data, the incidence of dementia from all causes, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia, was determined. The relationship between the percentage (%) of UPF in the diet and the eventual risk of dementia was estimated using Cox proportional hazards. Additionally, the risk of dementia was calculated using substitution analysis when UPF was replaced with an equivalent amount of unprocessed or less processed meals.

The key findings of this study were:

1. 518 individuals experienced dementia throughout a total of 717,333 person-years of follow-up (median 10.0 years), of whom 287 experienced AD and 119 experienced vascular dementia. Consuming UPF was linked to an increased risk of dementia, AD, and vascular dementia in the fully adjusted model, respectively.

2. Additionally, a 10% reduction in dementia risk was predicted to be related with substituting 10% of UPF weight in diet with an equivalent amount of unprocessed or less processed foods.

In conclusion, this study identifies a major potentially modifiable risk factor (Ultra processed food) by highlighting the increased risk of dementia associated with the intake.

Reference: 

Li, H., Li, S., Yang, H., Zhang, Y., Zhang, S., Ma, Y., Hou, Y., Zhang, X., Niu, K., Borné, Y., & Wang, Y. (2022). Association of Ultraprocessed Food Consumption With Risk of Dementia. In Neurology (Vol. 99, Issue 10, pp. e1056–e1066). Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000200871