TOPLINE:

High consumption of ultraprocessed food (UPF) was associated with poor attention and an elevated risk for dementia in middle-aged and older adults, but not with poor memory, a new study showed. The association remained strong even after adjusting for adherence to a Mediterranean diet.

METHODOLOGY:

• A cross-sectional study included data from nearly 2200 dementia-free Australian adults aged 40-70 years (mean age, 57 years; 75% female; 83% White) who were enrolled in the Healthy Brain Project between 2016 and 2023.
• Habitual dietary intake over the previous 12 months was assessed using a validated 130-item food frequency questionnaire from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer UK Norfolk cohort. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was evaluated using a nine-item index.
• The Cogstate Brief Battery was used to assess processing speed, visual attention, visual recognition memory, and working memory and attention, with outcomes standardized into attention and memory composite scores. Dementia risk was estimated using the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Incidence of Dementia tool.
• The study adjusted for factors such as age, sex, physical activity, smoking status, and a history of cardiometabolic diseases; fully adjusted models also included BMI and adherence to the Mediterranean diet.

TAKEAWAY:

• The most consumed UPFs were dairy-based desserts and drinks, followed by soft drinks, fruit drinks, and other sweetened beverages.
• Higher UPF consumption was associated with a 0.24-point increase in modified dementia risk scores (P < .001), independent of adherence to a Mediterranean diet.
• Each 10% increase in UPF intake was linked to a 0.05-point decrease in attention scores (P = .01), with the association remaining significant even after adjusting for Mediterranean diet adherence. A UPF intake of more than 28% of total grams consumed was associated with lower attention scores than a UPF intake of up to 13% of total grams consumed (P for trend = .006).
• There were no significant associations between UPF intake and memory composite scores, even in fully adjusted models.

IN PRACTICE:

“To put our findings in perspective, a 10% increase in UPFs is roughly equivalent to adding a standard packet of chips to your daily diet,” the lead investigator said in a press release.

“For every 10% increase in UPF a person consumed, we saw a distinct and measurable drop in a person’s ability to focus. In clinical terms, this translated to consistently lower scores on standardized cognitive tests measuring visual attention and processing speed,” the lead investigator added.

SOURCE:

The study, led by Barbara R. Cardoso, Monash University, Clayton, Australia, was published online on April 23 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring.

LIMITATIONS:

The study population consisted predominantly of women, individuals with higher education and socioeconomic status, and those with a family history of dementia, limiting the generalizability of the findings. The food frequency questionnaire was not validated for the Australian population, and self-reported dietary data were subject to potential recall bias and measurement error.

DISCLOSURES:

The Healthy Brain Project was funded by several organizations including the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Dementia Australia Research Foundation, with a full listing of funders reported in the original article. The investigators reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.