According to a recent study, a small 10% increase in ultraprocessed food (UPF) consumption—roughly equivalent to eating a small bag of potato chips—may increase dementia risk, even among those who maintain an otherwise healthy, plant-based diet.
Ultraprocessed foods dominate the American diet. Adults in the United States consume approximately 53% of their calories from UPFs, while children obtain nearly 62% of their energy from these foods, according to CDC data.
The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring on April 23, "showed that UPF consumption was associated with worse attention and higher dementia risk in middle-aged and older adults," according to lead researcher Barbara Cardoso, a senior lecturer of nutrition, dietetics, and food at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
The research has limitations—it established correlation rather than causation. However, Cardoso noted an important detail: "this association was not changed by adherence to the Mediterranean diet, indicating that this is linked to food processing rather than simply food displacement."
According to another study published in January 2025, the number of dementia cases is set to rise in the coming decades. Indeed, the number of people in the US who are diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease is expected to double by 2060, reaching around one million cases per year.
Although there are genetic factors that influence the likelihood of a person developing dementia, there are also certain lifestyle choices we can make, particularly during midlife, if we want to reduce the risk.
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