Ultra-processed food intake and brain health in middle-aged and older adults

作者：Jiawei Gu, Linli Chen, Yujia Bao, Xueer Yang, Xuhua Chen, Zheshen Han, Yibin Zhou, Xiaobei Deng, Yuhua Li, Jinjun Ran · 发表于：The journal of nutrition health & aging · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.jnha.2025.100644 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling、Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease、Nutritional Studies and Diet

OBJECTIVE: The escalating burden of neurodegenerative diseases underscores the urgent need to identify modifiable dietary risks. Given the increasing prevalence of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in modern diets and their links to various chronic diseases, this study investigates their associations with neurodegeneration and alterations in brain structure. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: 58,423 participants aged 40-70 years from the UK Biobank cohort (enrolled from 2006 to 2010) were included to examine the associations between UPF intake and neurodegenerative diseases, with a subsample of 5,462 participants with neuroimaging data used to investigate associations with regional gray matter morphology, including volume, thickness, and surface area. MEASUREMENTS: UPF intake was quantified as the weight-based proportion of ultra-processed foods, calculated by dividing the total daily weight (g/day) of UPFs by the total weight of all food consumed, based on the Oxford WebQ dietary questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards models, fully adjusted for potential confounders, were employed to assess the associations between UPF intake and neurodegenerative diseases. Polygenic risk scores derived from genome-wide summary statistics to reflect genetic predisposition to neurodegenerative diseases, were used to perform subgroup analyses. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine the associations between UPF intake and brain gray matter phenotypes. RESU...