Why ultra-processed food hurts more than your waistline
Could your pantry be making you dumb? It’s no secret that ultra-processed foods aren’t good for your health, but did you know they may decrease your intelligence? What is an ultra-processed food, anyways? Judging by the name, it’s pretty easy to assume and you are probably pretty close. If you said your bag of puffy Cheetos was an ultra-processed food, you would be right. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are most commonly defined within the NOVA classification system, which groups foods according to the extent and purpose of industrial processing. Originally coined by Carlos Monteiro, professor of Nutrition and Public Health at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the NOVA classification system has become the most common system for classifying UPFs, to date, and frequently used as an input to making public policy.
What the heck is a UPF, anyways?
So what is a UPF, exactly and what does it have to do with my intelligence? The easiest way to describe UPFs are on a continuum. NOVA level 1 includes things like fresh leaves, nuts, berries, and meats. Basically, foods that are as close to the source as possible with no adulteration or alteration. Think of this as many of the things you might find at a Farmer’s market or in the vegetable aisle or meat counter, at your local grocery store. As you move along the continuum towards Level 4, also known as UPFs, things become further and further away from their original form. In the journal article for Public Health nutrition, Carlos Monteiro further describes:
A practical way to identify an ultra-processed product is to check to see if its list of ingredients contains at least one item characteristic of the NOVA ultra-processed food group [group 4 in the image], which is to say, either food substances never or rarely used in kitchens (such as high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or interesterified oils, and hydrolysed proteins), or classes of additives designed to make the final product palatable or more appealing (such as flavors, flavor enhancers, colors, emulsifiers, emulsifying salts, sweeteners, thickeners, and anti-foaming, bulking, carbonating, foaming, gelling and glazing agents).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30744710/
Is your pantry full of ultra-processed foods?
Research gate has a handy graphic to help you understand where your foods fall on the NOVA spectrum:
In other words, would you have any of the package ingredients hanging around in your kitchen? If you have zero, chances are high you are looking at a UPF. The pace of research on the impact of UPFs in our diet, and the impact on cognitive ability and long term health has been accelerating. As you may have guessed, the news isn’t good. According to one study done by Dr. Natalia Gomes Gonçalves and colleagues, published in JAMA in 2022, looking at over ten thousand Brazilians across 8 years, found that people with high intake of UPFs in their diet performed 25-28% worse than counterparts with lower UPF intake, in cognitive tests like word recall, word recognition and other verbal fluency tests. Based on the various cohorts in the study, they were able to see this decline in cognitive ability, over time.
What else does the research say about ultra-processed foods and intelligence?
Similar results have been found by lead researcher Galit Weinstien, published in 2023 in the Journal of Gerentology, Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. While this study looked at adults with the Type-2 Diabetes comorbidity, among a group of Israeli participants, they were able to see a similar correlation that aligned with an increased intake of UPFs, corresponding to a decrease in cognitive function, as seen by the Brazilian study.
A final study published on US participants in December 2022, in the European Journal of Nutrition, found similar results where people over 60, with diets consisting of 53% caloric intake of UPFs, on average. Study participants performed poorer on Animal Fluency tests compared to those with lower UPF consumption. The good news is that this study also suggested that reducing your intake of UPFs may reverse cognitive decline, which could be tremendous news for everyone, since most of us already intuitively know that UPFs are inherently bad for us. This may be just what we need to finally rid our cabinets of these awful foods.
What else can we learn about the impact of ultra-processed foods and intelligence?
While this area of study is fairly nascent, compared to the studies on heart disease and obesity associated with UPFs, there is no doubt scientists will continue to shine the spotlight on the impacts of UPFs on cognition. When you are consuming whole and natural foods, as close to their original source as possible, the better. We don’t need research studies to tell us this, but sometimes it helps us kick the habit.
Still not sure if UPFs may be hurting your intelligence? We can help – schedule a free consultation today, here or learn more about how Pomona Wellness can help you live your best life now.