Coco Somers – Natural News June 21, 2026
A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that older adults who consume higher amounts of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) face an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia, with processed meat showing the strongest association among food categories, according to the report.
The findings add to a growing body of evidence linking highly processed foods to brain health deterioration, researchers said. According to the study, which analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study, participants with higher UPF intake had significantly greater risk of both cognitive impairment with no dementia (CIND) and dementia.
Approximately 61% of calories in the average American diet come from UPFs, according to previous research [1]. A 2022 study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference also linked processed food consumption to negative effects on brain function [2].
Study Design and Methods
Researchers analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey conducted by the University of Michigan that tracks older Americans every two years, according to the report. Participants were 50 or older at enrollment, cognitively healthy at baseline and followed for an average of 17.5 years, as described in related research using the same dataset [3].
UPFs were classified using the NOVA system, which groups foods based on the degree of industrial processing rather than nutrient content alone, the study stated. Cognitive outcomes were measured across two categories: cognitive impairment with no dementia and dementia.
The study adjusted for factors including demographics, physical activity, smoking and overall caloric intake, according to the report. UPFs have previously been linked to accelerated cognitive decline [4].
Key Findings: Higher UPF Intake Linked to Cognitive Risk
Participants with higher UPF consumption had a significantly greater risk of both CIND and dementia compared to those with lower intake, the study reported. A 2026 systematic review of 14 studies found that 78.5% of studies reported a significant association between higher UPF consumption and poorer cognitive outcomes, including deficits in memory, executive function and global cognition, according to the report.
When researchers broke down UPF intake by subcategory, processed meat showed the strongest association with cognitive risk among all ultraprocessed food groups examined, the study stated. This aligns with broader research: a comprehensive review of nearly 10 million participants found that high UPF consumption is directly linked to increased risk for cognitive decline and other serious conditions [5]. Processed meat products such as bacon and sausage have been associated with a 16% increase in cognitive decline risk, according to other data [6].
Possible Mechanisms for Processed Meat’s Harm
A 2025 narrative review on UPFs and brain health identified several mechanisms by which these foods may cause harm, according to the study. High-heat processing creates harmful byproducts that can damage cells and disrupt the balance of bacteria in the gut, leading to increased inflammation and cellular damage in the brain over time, researchers said.
Processed meats are typically high in saturated fat and sodium nitrates, which are independently linked to inflammation, according to the review. These foods also tend to crowd out more protective items from the diet, reducing intake of fiber and antioxidants that support brain health. The Western dietary pattern, characterized by high intake of processed foods, has been associated with increased mortality risk [7].
The excessive heat used in processing can also generate pro-oxidants from fats, contributing to oxidative stress [8]. The displacement of traditional, minimally processed foods by industrial products contributes to the burden of chronic disease [9].
Implications and Protective Factors
The study also found that higher intake of minimally processed foods was associated with lower cognitive risk, suggesting that overall diet quality matters, according to researchers. Practical recommendations from the study include replacing processed deli meats with whole protein sources, reading labels for additives and prioritizing whole or minimally processed foods. Swapping out UPFs for healthier alternatives can yield significant benefits for overall well-being [10].
The study’s authors emphasized that dietary patterns over time, rather than single meals, influence cognitive health. Traditional diets rich in fermented foods and whole ingredients have been linked to health promotion, raising questions about what is lost as these foods disappear from the modern landscape [7]. The findings suggest that reducing overall UPF intake, especially processed meat, may be a meaningful step toward preserving brain function in older age.
References
- Mercola.com. “60 of Calories Are From Ultraprocessed Food”. June 28, 2023.
- NaturalNews.com. “Study: Consumption of processed foods can negatively affect brain function”. September 08, 2022.
- NaturalNews.com. “Long-Term High BMI Linked to Faster Cognitive Decline, 24-Year Study Finds”. 2026-05-11.
- ANH International. “News in Brief Week 50 2022”. December 15, 2022.
- Children’s Health Defense. “Studies of 10 Million People Find Ultra-processed Foods Linked to Serious Health Issues”.
- ActivistPost. “Ultraprocessed Foods Linked to 4 in 10 Cardiovascular Deaths and Increased Mortality Risk”. 2026-05-07.
- Dr Alan Logan and Susan Prescott. “The Secret Life of Your Microbiome”.
- Siim Land. “The Longevity Leap: A Guide to Slowing Down Biological Aging and Adding Healthy Years to Your Life”.
- Dr Mark Hyman. “Food Fix”.
- NaturalNews.com. “Replace ultra processed foods with these HEALTHY alternatives”. May 16, 2024.
Explainer Infographic
If you think processed food is the only thing poisoning you then you’re probably “cognitively declined” beyond all hope of recovery.
Until a few years ago I ate a lot of processed food because it’s convenient. Thaw a lasagne, peel off the film and sling it in the oven for half an hour. Perhaps the most processed food I eat nowadays is the bread. I don’t eat so much food now and I’ve still got a pot belly but I’m probably a bit healthier.
I see food more as a chore, something I’ve got to do, more than one of life’s pleasures as it used to be. Having said that I’ve got a food stock ready for when times are hard and they’re a-coming.
There is not one scientific study that can inform on potential outcomes, good or bad, from eating any particular food.
To do that, you need a study group to eat nothing other than that food in isolation over several years. It’s never been done, and never will.
The ‘processed meats’ they mention…what are they eaten with? Bread most often.
Youtube Professor Bart Kay
It is the addictive additives that contain free glutamates, an excitotoxin..
It also causes cancer and PAIN…which is why so many people are in pain today…and so many adverts for pain relief and it also causes sleep disturbance among many other things.
It also is used to cause obesity and cancer in lab animals.
They won’t tell you that because it makes stale unhealthy food taste better and makes you hungry so you eat more..the profit of the big agro (an arm of the military industrial complex here in the states)
depends on it for maximizing profit.
They have their little minions running fraudulent studies and posting them on websites to show the glutes are harmless..(they often use aspartame as a “placebo” which often produces the same effects as free glutamates or msg.)
Good websites are “Truth in Labeling” and “Battling the MSG Myth”.
Scientific studies by unbiased (unbought) researchers with no conflicts of interest have shown that these ingredients cause brain damage etc….in fact they cause BRAIN TUMORS.
The Food Industries have increased the amount of free glutamate additives every decade since the 60s…and they are coming up with new ones every year to MASK the glutamates.(the addiive is not MSG but will contain a substantial amount of free glutamates as a spin off product of production.
Foreign people visiting the States tell me they were surprised how many pounds they dropped without trying when they left USA having ballooned out while visiting..and how the pain magically disappeared.
Americans that go over seas to Europe are shocked at how the swelling in their hands and feet go away, how the pain disappears..and how they also drop weight without trying.
Yeah, i know i am preaching to the choir here.
This is a huge problem and i actually think it is part of the war on Americans by their government which is basically the big corporations..they are indistinguishable.
They want to keep us disabled or at least too f*cked up to defy them
Looking for what’s causing the epidemic of dementia in the elderly – check out statin drugs. Every cell in the body needs cholesterol and the brain needs lots of it. Muscle pains, diabetes and dementia are the side effects of statins. Meanwhile there as much if not more heart disease than ever.
Yes Coco, people becoming or already are braindead because they surely eat processed foods and only watch telievision, drive through all kinds of drive through’s in comfort and vote for their favourite crooks – and read Natural news! You know, sodium nitrates are a shocker to cure meat these political correct days, $cientists say and strangely all “our” Go-vermins everywhere agree to have now banned it for meat processing these days having to use very odd “natural” and “healthy” substitutes which make sure that what was “cured” properly before is now spoiling in a fraction of time like it used to be with the help of sodium nitrates and hot or cold smoking which also gave all meat products a special original taste and a pretty stable conservation of the product. BUTT it’s not good for YOU the same $cientists say that applaud when skies are sprayed for the “protection” of humanity and 5, 6 or 7 G’s are rolled out to “improve our” humane communication, when vaccines are forced into peoples blood stream or when gene manipulation of global seeds and plants including the “(over) fertilisation” of once fertile grounds.
So make sure to stay healthy – they say. Dont drink alcohol, don’t eat any meat, don’t smoke, don’t breath at all and get some “Textured Protein” into you. Its the food of the future and is good for YOU, even if it tastes like the shredded cardboard that it is and trades for $20 a kilo. Coming up next in your supermarkets: $olvent Green! Full of nutrition, fibres, vitamins and all the other organic “goodies” spiked with pharmaceutical medicine/wastes of former cognitive impaired users that were moved on voluntarily, saving YOU a trip to a “Health care $pecialist”, to the laptop doctor of the NHS or to an expensive pharmacy. And YOU will also save a lot too to be health wise – they say!
And that is what one could call proper recycling with a tad of the usual money spinning.
So, make sure to listen to all THE EXPERTS and Coco. They know what is best for decaying brains and how to keep the slaves (economy) in tact.
Wait wait wait…ultraprocessed fake foods are bad for you? If you didn’t know that, I have a mediocre townhouse at No. 10 to sell you. I’ll throw in the prime minstrelship now that the (felch stained) seat is open. Act now, offer ends soon.
We all know, as one contender here claims, that eating industrial/readymade food over long time, combined with circuses, produce a type of cretin that the west is full of, and which by heritage almost always chooses the afore mentioned lifestyle as a predestined condition. Democracy rests therefore on a benvolent, more or less dictatorial ruling, which will produce a healthy people.
Paraguay makes a big part of its state income
to export their very healthy cattle beef to USA :
but you can be asured that it is mostly destined
to the potbelly upperclass who can afford the
price . same with argentine meat . I wonder on
the other hand I have a video without commentars
where they have exterminated somewhere in Texas
hundreds of black cattles heaped in square corrals .
all the dead corpses are heaped in squars but the
fences are no more there . they must have killed
them I think all suddenly with one gigantic gas
blow . I think it must have been a new weapons
test of massdestruction + also fits into the jewSA NWO agenda to
diminish the food supply . two enjoying americans
drive along the long stretch of square cattle corpses .
they must enjoy the idea of some hidden successful
agenda . if they are stupid government goyim or
jews I cannot say .
When one looks at the cocktail of chemicals in such ‘foods’ it’s hardly surprising. Read the label.