“Watching ‘Natural Person’ while eating potato chips is one of life’s pleasures” ... MRI scans of middle-aged adults reveal ‘signs of asymptomatic damage’ [Health Issue]

[The Financial News] A study has found that middle-aged adults who consume more ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have more body fat and visceral fat, and are more likely to show signs of asymptomatic vascular injury on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
On the 16th, JAMA Network Open, a journal of the American Medical Association, reported that a research team at McMaster University’s Population Health Research Institute in Canada found these associations after analyzing dietary habits, body fat, brain MRI scans and cognitive function test results from 8,783 adults aged 35–69 who did not have cardiovascular disease.
According to Yonhap News Agency, corresponding author Professor Sonia Anand explained, “This shows that there is growing evidence that what people eat from their 30s through their 60s affects their brain health later in life. These findings suggest that the link between diet and brain health can be identified even before people experience clear problems with their memory or thinking.” However, no significant association was found between UPF consumption and cognitive function test results.
Ultra-processed foods are industrially processed foods such as packaged snacks, sweetened cereals, soft drinks, instant noodles and frozen ready meals. They are generally high in sodium, added sugars and saturated fats, and relatively low in dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals.
For the study, the research team analyzed data from 8,783 adults aged 35–69 who took part in the Canadian Alliance for Healthy Hearts and Minds (CAHHM) and the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological Study-MIND (PURE-MIND). The team also converted UPF consumption into servings per 2,000 kcal of daily energy intake and divided participants into four groups for comparison.
The study participants completed detailed dietary questionnaires and underwent brain MRI scans. In the group with the highest UPF consumption, UPFs made up 45% of total daily food servings, compared with just 16.5% in the group with the lowest consumption. Conversely, minimally processed foods such as fruit, vegetables and grains accounted for 41.5% in the highest-consumption group and 68.6% in the lowest-consumption group.
The analysis found that the group with the highest UPF consumption had a body fat percentage 1.7 percentage points (p) higher than the group with the lowest consumption, and an average visceral fat volume 5.7 mL greater. There was no significant difference in the proportion of liver fat.
One particularly notable finding concerned the likelihood of vascular brain injury. The likelihood of vascular brain injury—which the research team defined as having at least one of either an asymptomatic cerebral infarction or extensive white matter hyperintensities—was 40% higher in the group with the highest UPF consumption than in the group with the lowest consumption.
However, cognitive function, assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), which evaluates memory, attention and language skills, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), which measures attention, working memory and psychomotor speed, showed no significant association with UPF consumption.
The research team therefore said that the study was cross-sectional, comparing diet and health at a single point in time, and could not determine whether UPFs directly caused cerebrovascular injury. It added that long-term follow-up studies are needed to find out whether these changes are followed by cognitive decline.
Professor Anand said, “Ultra-processed foods are often a convenient and inexpensive option.” She added, “This study suggests that a diet high in ultra-processed foods may be associated with brain changes that can lead to memory decline and stroke as people age.”
[email protected] Kim Hee-sun Reporter