TODAY’S SPECIAL EDITION MICRO RESOLUTION ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS (UPFs)

Hello and happy Monday! Before kicking off our next mini resolution to eat more fruits and vegetables, let’s dive into today’s Special Edition of Motivated Mondays: Ultra-processed foods and their relationship with cognitive decline!

In today’s fast-paced world, grocery shopping has transformed into a complex experience filled with a large array of choices. Among these options, processed and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have become staples for many, offering convenience and instant gratification. But as our carts fill with brightly packaged snacks and ready-to-eat meals, it’s crucial to pause and consider what we’re really putting into our bodies. And recent media coverage has shone the spotlight on just how harmful these UPFs can be.
 
In order to better understand health outcomes and inform food policy, researchers have created four food categories based on their degree of processing:
 
1. Unprocessed or minimally processed foods
2. Oils, fats, salt, and sugar
3. Processed foods
4. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs)



CCP helps you stay on track!

Download the log for this week.
 
For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge:  
[email protected]


What is the definition of “ultra-processed foods”?

In general, UPFs are industrial formulations primarily composed of chemically modified substances extracted from foods, along with additives to enhance taste, texture, appearance, and durability, with minimal to no inclusion of whole foods.
 
As American molecular biologist and nutritionist Dr. Marion Nestle points out, UPFs are foods you could not make at home due to a lack of the necessary equipment and ingredients. UPFs are typically inexpensive, high in salt, sugar and fat, but low in fiber, protein and the nutrients found in the original foods.
 
Do you recall the old ad, “No one can eat just one?” UPFs have been chemically engineered to be hyper-palatable—in other words, they are lab-created foods designed to encourage individuals to eat beyond the point of satiety.

EXAMPLES OF UPFs

Snacks: Chips, biscuits, cakes, pastries, sweets, chocolate, and ice cream.
 
Processed meats: Sausages, hot dogs, deli meats, and chicken nuggets.
 
Drinks: Sugar-sweetened beverages, energy drinks, and fruit drinks.
 
Ready meals: Frozen pizzas, pre-prepared pasta dishes, and packaged pies.
 
Breakfast cereals: Especially those with added sugars, artificial colors, and flavors.
 
Bread: Mass-produced packaged bread often contains additives.
 
Condiments: Bottled sauces and dressings.

Health Risks

As Americans, 58% of our daily caloric intake comes from UPFs, displacing minimally processed, nutritious food in the diet, especially fruit and vegetables. Alarmingly, more than 1,500 observational studies on UPFs indicate a strong, linear association between UPF consumption and mortality, cancer, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders including diabetes, and mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. All of these are known risk factors for cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases.
 
So, can’t the lab just add the nutrients back into UPFs to restore health benefits? No, and here’s why.
 
Processing food alters its chemical and physical properties, leading to a dietary reconstitution that affects not only the nutrients in the food item itself but also how or if those nutrients can be absorbed. Furthermore, industrial processing can produce harmful substances such as advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), trans fats, furans, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
 
The additives—emulsifiers, coloring agents, artificial sweeteners, and nitrates/nitrites—must also be considered, as they can disrupt the gut microbiome. These additives have been studied for safety as individual ingredients, yet they are often consumed together as a “cocktail,” which may amplify negative effects on human health.
 
Additionally, contaminants in packaging such as bisphenols, microplastics, mineral oils and phthalates pose further health risks. The body perceives these chemicals as foreign, triggering a cascading inflammatory response often referred to as “fast food fever.” Collectively, these factors result in elevated circulating biomarkers indicating oxidative stress and cellular damage.

A Closer Look at the Research

The research on UPFs is fairly new, dating back only to 2010, but the findings so far are troubling and show there is likely a direct, yet to be established, mechanism of action where UPFs negatively impact neurological health. Presently we understand the relationship to be inflammatory in nature, directly related to comorbidities such as cardiometabolic diseases and mental health disorders and likely linked to changes in the microbiome (a future mini-resolution) affecting the gut-brain axis.
 
A rare clinical trial (PMID 31105044) supports further observational findings on ultra-processed foods (UPFs). In a 4-week controlled study, participants alternated between UPF-based diets and minimally processed diets, matched for calories and nutrients. On the UPF diet, they consumed roughly 500 more calories daily and gained 2 pounds on average. By contrast, on the minimally processed diet, participants lost 2 pounds and showed improved hunger hormone profiles and metabolic markers.
 
Moreover, studies regarding UPFs, cognitive decline and neurodegeneration have found a direct, dose-response association between consumption of UPFs and the development of dementia, meaning more UPFs consumed could mean a greater risk of cognitive decline and/or dementia. Conversely, replacing just 10% of UPFs in the diet with a proportional equivalent of minimally processed foods has been estimated to reduce the risk of dementia by 19%, a finding that gives credence to the value of minimally processed diets, such as the Mediterranean and Nordic Diets.
 
Just last month, a groundbreaking study identified a strong association between long-term consumption of UPFs and the development of non-motor prodromal Parkinson’s disease (PD) features, including partial loss of the ability to smell, daytime sleepiness, body pain, impaired color vision and depressive symptoms.

What does all of this mean for you?

It’s all a matter of making better choices, namely, eating real food!

WHAT IS REAL FOOD?

Simply ask yourself, “Did my grandmother eat this food,” or “Can I make this at home?” or “Are the listed ingredients sold on grocery shelves?” If the answer is “no,” don’t put it in your grocery cart.
 
Consuming UPFs has become second nature to many and being mindful of what you’re eating is half the battle. This week, use our log to create awareness of your UPF consumption, tracking each processed food item you eat throughout each day. You may be surprised by your findings!
 
Next month, our mini resolution will be to eat more fruit and vegetables (FnVs), and we hope that in creating awareness of your UPF consumption, you will start to become more inclined to reach for FnVs instead of UPFs.
 
If you need additional guidance on how to make better choices, you can try the Yuka app. Just scan your item’s barcode and the app will provide a grade for that item out of 100, as well as better food alternatives. Sometimes the alternatives include items with artificial sweeteners—we recommend avoiding those!

We’ll see you next week for a NEW mini resolution!