Eating hot dogs makes you “dumb”? Junk food causes cognitive impairment

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¿Your breakfasts, lunches or dinners include the hot dogsinstant soups or soft drinks? eye! A recent study indicates that cognitive decline over time is older for those who consume more than 20 percent of daily calories from ultra-processed foods.

A team of scientists from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo carried out a long-term follow-up of approximately 15,000 people aged 35 to 74 from different regions of Brazil.

Consequently, the team of specialists, based on the Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (Elsa-Brazil), found that people who consume more of this type of product -more than 20% of their daily intake- have a 28% greater drop in cognitive performance than those who eat less -less than 20 percent-.

Do you “mix” a lot of hot dogs? eye! This information is for you.
Source: Pixabay.

In this sense, 20% is equivalent, for example, to eating three loaves of bread a day, or more than 900 grams of this product per day.

“To make what this means more tangible, the researcher explains that 20% of daily calories from ultra-processed foods is equivalent to, say, three lean slices of bread a day,” explains the workshop website.

What are ultra-processed foods?

They are those who have gone through a long industrial process; Here, bread, instant noodles, soft drinks, fries, cookies, sausages, burgers, among others are categorized.

Ultra-processed foods are those that have gone through a long industrial process.
Source: Pixabay.?????

This study, carried out by researcher Natália Gonçalves, in collaboration with other members of Elsa-Brasil, collected information from 10,775 people and their diet was classified according to the characteristics of the foods consumed:

  • Unprocessed: a diet “rich” in vegetables, fruits, cereals.
  • Culinary ingredients: foods containing oils and salt.
  • Processed foods: This is a diet with slight modifications such as adding salt or sugar.
  • Ultra-processed foods: the same ones that “in their final composition do not even resemble real food”, refers to the survey.

In this way, the more than 10,000 people were divided into four groups based on the percentage of ultra-processed foods in their diet.

Eating hot dogs makes you “dumb”? Junk food causes cognitive impairment.
Source: Pixabay.

“These results, in addition to being unprecedented, are very important because they indicate a behavior that people can modify and, thus, possibly reduce the possibility of cognitive deterioration over the years”, explains scientist Natália Gonçalves.

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