MRI links ultraprocessed foods with vascular brain injury
High consumption of ultraprocessed foods could increase the risk of vascular brain injury, according to newly published data.
New MRI findings published in JAMA suggest that middle aged adults who consume a significant amount of highly processed foods may have greater adiposity and increased odds of neurovascular damage on brain imaging. According to researchers, it is worth considering whether these findings “may precede detectable cognitive deficits” in the future.
“Growing evidence suggests that [ultraprocessed food] consumption may also influence brain health, but the pathways linking UPFs to early cerebrovascular changes remain uncertain and incompletely studied,” Sonia S. Anand, MD, PhD, with McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and colleagues noted. “Subclinical vascular brain injury, including white matter hyperintensities and covert brain infarcts, reflects early cerebrovascular disease that develops years before clinically detectable cognitive decline and may represent a modifiable target for prevention.”
The cross-sectional study included 8,783 Canadian adults ages 35 to 69 without cardiovascular disease. Researchers examined dietary intake alongside measures of body fat, visceral adipose tissue, liver fat, MRI-defined vascular brain injury and cognitive test scores.
Participants with the highest ultraprocessed food intake had body fat 1.7 percentage points higher than those with the lowest intake; they also had a 5.7 mL greater volume of visceral adipose tissue. No significant difference in hepatic fat fraction was observed between the groups.
MRI findings also showed an association between ultraprocessed food consumption and vascular brain injury. Compared with participants in the lowest quartile of ultraprocessed food intake, those in the top quartile had 40% higher adjusted odds of vascular brain injury. (Vascular brain injury was defined as covert brain infarcts or high white matter hyperintensities.)
Despite this, the team found no significant association between ultraprocessed food intake and performance on either the Montreal Cognitive Assessment or the Digital Symbol Substitution Test.
These findings suggest that greater consumption of ultraprocessed foods may be associated with markers of vascular brain injury and increased adiposity in midlife, even when measurable differences in cognitive performance are not apparent. However, the team noted that the study was not designed to establish whether ultraprocessed food consumption precedes or contributes to these changes.
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In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.