Ultra Processed Foods Destroying your Brain?

Most of us know what ultra processed foods are. And that they aren’t particularly good for us. And that gaining weight is likely is we eat too much of them. But less common knowledge is what these foods are doing to your brain. Are ultra processed foods destroying your brain? If so how?

Blood Sugar Spikes

Ultra processed food will cause big spikes in your blood sugar levels. Research shows that continuing to have these spikes over a prolonged period (years) can damage the tiny blood vessels that keep your brain healthy. Thus brain function can deteriorate over time.

Overeating

Ultra processed foods are designed to keep you eating (partly due to the blood sugar spikes and troughs discussed above). Regularly overeating will leave you brain with less energy to work properly.

Gut Health

Almost exclusively these foods are very low in fiber. This healthy bacteria supports you gut. And in turn experts believe it helps support your brain. So the more processed and less fibrous foods you eat the less healthy your brain will be.

Missing nutrients

Similar to fiber above, if you are eating too much of these ultra processed foods you are likely not eating enough vitamins and minerals that are vital in protecting your brain cells.

Harmful Compounds

Researchers think that the way these foods are made create harmful compounds that can damage your brain over time. So again the more of these foods you eat the more damage you are likely to have.

Additives

Additives (particularly in processed meat) can also affect brain health.

Insulin resistance

People who eat a lot of ultra processed foods are at a higher risk of dementia due to the constat blood sugar spikes. These spikes make it harder for your body to use sugar for energy.

Conclusion – Ultra Processed Foods Destroying your Brain?

Your takeaway from this hopefully won’t be you should never be eating any of these foods. As you can see a lot of the negatives are a result of the foods you are not eating because you are eating too much processed stuff. So as long as you don’t eat them all the time and ensure you get enough goodness in your diet as well, you will be feeding your brain pretty well.

At the same time sometimes it’s good to get some cold hard facts and an extra incentive to re-evaluate your ultra process food intake and see where you could improve it!