An article earlier this yr within the European Journal of Diet reported that top consumption of ultra-processed meals is linked to worse-than-average efficiency on one specific take a look at of cognitive operate in older US adults (60+ years-old) who didn’t have continual ailments resembling diabetes or heart problems. The actual take a look at was “Animal Fluency.” By no means heard of it? Me both. Preserve studying.
The examine included 2,700 members, common age 69. Contributors have been requested to recall what they ate within the prior 24 hours. Meals have been “categorized in response to NOVA, a meals classification primarily based on the extent and objective of commercial meals processing, into 4 mutually unique teams: (1) unprocessed or minimally processed meals, (2) processed culinary components, (3) processed meals, and (4) UPFs [ultra-processed foods].”
Extremely-processed meals? “…most meals described as “Frozen meals” or “Lunchables”, in addition to some objects described as consumed in “Restaurant quick meals/pizza” or acquired at a “Merchandising machine” have been categorized as UPFs.” Moreover, the authors write within the introduction that “UPFs, in response to the NOVA classification system, are industrial formulations of processed meals substances (oils, fat, sugars, starch, and protein isolates) that include little or no complete meals and sometimes embrace flavourings, colorings, emulsifiers, and different beauty components. UPFs have gotten dominant in diets globally and are changing conventional diets primarily based on unprocessed and minimally processed meals.
Of the complete examine inhabitants at hand, UPFs have been about half of all energy consumed however ranged from 30 to 70%.
“Cognitive efficiency was assessed utilizing the Consortium to Set up a Registry for Alzheimer’s Illness (CERAD), Phrase Studying take a look at, Animal Fluency take a look at, and the Digit Image Substitution take a look at (DSST).”
The Animal Fluency take a look at “evaluates categorical verbal fluency (govt operate).” “For the Animal Fluency take a look at, the participant is requested to call as many animals as attainable inside a 60-s [60 seconds, I assume] time interval. Every animal corresponds to 1 level and the result’s introduced as the whole sum of factors.”
The take a look at topics got two different exams of cognitive operate however the investigators discovered no variations in efficiency primarily based on ultra-processed meals consumption. Listed below are these different two exams:
The 2 components of the CERAD Phrase Studying take a look at encompass (1) three consecutive studying trials, the place the participant was requested to recall a listing of ten unrelated phrases instantly after their presentation. Every phrase corresponds to 1 level, and the result’s introduced as a complete rating throughout the three trials (vary 0–30); and (2) a delayed phrase recall take a look at, carried out after the 2 different cognitive exams. The end result ranges from 0 to 10. … For the DSST, the participant is introduced a single sheet of paper the place they’re requested to match a listing of 9 symbols to numbers in response to a key situated on the highest of the web page. The duty had 133 numbers and the participant had 2 min to finish it. The result’s proven as the whole variety of right matches. For all of the exams, greater scores signify higher cognitive operate.
The authors conclude: “Consumption of UPF was related to worse efficiency in Animal Fluency, a cognitive take a look at that assesses language and govt operate in older adults with out pre-existing ailments resembling CVD [cardiovascular disease] and diabetes, whereas no associations have been noticed for these with these circumstances. Whereas longitudinal research are required to offer stronger proof, these outcomes counsel that lowering UPF consumption could also be a technique to mitigate age-associated cognitive decline and cut back the chance of dementia.”
I agree these outcomes aren’t very robust.
Steve Parker, MD
h/t Jan at The Low Carb Diabetic weblog
