These kinds of evaluations are common when testing brain health, said Katz, who is principal investigator for the study and leads a cognitive aging and translational science lab at Virginia Tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of this is looking for your risk for something,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one wants a higher risk of having dementia or Alzheimer\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
The results suggest an important wake-up call for people who want to keep their brain sharp as they age.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to understand when and why people have early stages of cognitive impairment,\u201d Katz said. \u201cPhysicians should be able to take this back to their patients and tell them that those dietary choices matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The specific categories of ultra-processed foods that impacted brain health were surprising to Katz and Davy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
After all, this is one of the first studies that breaks down different categories of ultra-processed foods and evaluates the specific impact of them on brain health.<\/p>\n
“Maybe some of those are still bad for cardiovascular health, but when we see impacts on cognition, it looks like a lot of this is driven really meaningfully by a couple of these categories that often make up substantial parts of our diets,\u201d Katz said.<\/p>\n
The study\u2019s results suggest that paying attention to what you eat, reading labels, and making simple food swaps is more important than ever, Davy said. For instance, there are some deli meats that are healthier and not ultra processed, so consumers should opt for those instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Davy also suggests that people cook meals as much as possible at home and choose water over sugary beverages.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are things that you can change,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s moderation and being reasonable and balanced in your dietary choices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both researchers are continuing their work surrounding ultra processed foods and cognition. Currently, their findings from a study evaluating young adults and ultra-processed foods are under review. \u00a0<\/p>\n
With future grants, they\u2019d like to teach cooking skills and healthy dietary patterns to individuals\u00a0with the goal of evaluating how cooking skills development improves what people eat and how it may impact brain function.<\/p>\n
A big reason why ultra-processed foods are attractive is because they are convenient options for busy people, especially if their time and cooking skills are limited, Davy said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why offering cooking instruction could be a key to better dietary choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to follow a diet, but it\u2019s another thing to give them the cooking skills to prepare that diet,\u201d Katz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These kinds of evaluations are common when testing brain health, said Katz, who is principal investigator for the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":269394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[140188,140187,40228,210,1182,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-269393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-and-exercisehuman-development-and-family-sciencecollege-of-liberal-arts-and-human-sciencesresearch","9":"tag-college-of-agriculture-and-life-scienceshuman-nutrition","10":"tag-foods","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-nutrition","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115299417847250140","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}