Eating too much processed junk food might be bad news for your brain, even if you’re doing other healthy stuff like following a good diet, new research warns. But don’t worry—there’s some good news too!

A big study followed a group of people for over 10 years and found that chowing down on ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) could raise your chances of memory problems and even strokes. What are UPFs, you ask? Think soda, chips, chocolate bars, ice cream, sugary cereals, chicken nuggets, and fries—basically, all the tasty-but-not-so-healthy treats. On the flip side, eating more fresh foods like veggies, fruits, and plain meats (hello, grilled chicken!) might help protect your brain.

In one part of the study, researchers looked at 14,175 people who started out with no memory or thinking problems. After following them for a while, they found that people who ate more UPFs had a 16% higher chance of developing memory issues. Meanwhile, those who stuck with fresh, unprocessed foods were 12% less likely to run into brain troubles.

And it’s not just about memory. In another group of over 20,000 folks, 1,108 of them had a stroke during the study. Those who ate more UPFs had an 8% higher chance of a stroke, but those who ate more fresh foods saw their risk drop by 9%. The researchers also noticed that eating UPFs seemed to affect Black participants more than White participants when it came to strokes.

Here’s the kicker: this all happened no matter what kind of “healthy” diet people followed, like the Mediterranean diet or DASH diet. It seems that how much your food is messed with in a factory matters just as much as the types of food you eat.

Dr. Kimberly, one of the researchers, summed it up nicely: “What we eat makes a big difference for our brain health, but how it’s made matters too!” He added that while eating fresh foods seems to help, this was an observational study, so we can’t say for sure that ditching UPFs will magically fix your brain. More research is needed to prove that.

Experts from Harvard chimed in, saying that UPFs might hurt your brain not just because of all the added sugar, fat, and salt, but also because of the funky chemicals like emulsifiers and artificial colors that can mess with your gut and cause inflammation.

This study is another reminder that “you are what you eat” isn’t just a saying—it’s science! So, next time you’re tempted to grab a bag of chips, maybe reach for some fresh fruit instead. Your brain will thank you later.

And hey, the best part? It’s not all doom and gloom. Choosing more fresh, unprocessed foods could give your brain a boost and help keep it sharp for years to come. Why not start small? Every little change adds up!.

Look after yourself and live with intention!

Bhave VM, Oladele CR, Ament Z, Kijpaisalratana N, Jones AC, Couch CA, Patki A, Garcia Guarniz AL, Bennett A, Crowe M, Irvin MR, Kimberly WT. Associations Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Adverse Brain Health Outcomes. Neurology. 2024 Jun 11;102(11):e209432. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000209432. Epub 2024 May 22. PMID: 38776524; PMCID: PMC11175629.