Ultra-processed foods may harm attention span and raise dementia risk factors, according to new research involving more than 2,100 adults.
Ultra-processed foods are becoming a larger part of everyday diets around the world, but scientists are increasingly warning that the convenience may come at a cost to brain health. New research from Monash University, and Deakin University has found that even small increases in ultra-processed food consumption may impair the brain’s ability to focus and could heighten factors linked to dementia.
The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, examined the diets and cognitive performance of more than 2,100 dementia-free middle-aged and older Australians.
Researchers discovered that higher intake of ultra-processed foods was associated with measurable declines in attention span and processing speed — even among people who otherwise followed healthy diets.
Even Small Dietary Changes Affect Attention
Lead author Dr. Barbara Cardoso, from Monash University’s Department of Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food and the Victorian Heart Institute, said the findings strengthen evidence linking industrially processed foods to cognitive decline.
“To put our findings in perspective, a 10 percent increase in UPFs is roughly equivalent to adding a standard packet of chips to your daily diet,” Dr. Cardoso said.
“For every 10 percent increase in ultra-processed food 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.”
