Higher ultraprocessed food intake was associated with greater adiposity and higher odds of MRI-defined vascular brain injury but not cognitive performance in middle-aged Canadian adults.
Adults in the highest quartile of ultraprocessed food intake had significantly higher body fat percentage compared to those in the lowest quartile.
Adults in the highest quartile of ultraprocessed food intake had significantly greater visceral adipose tissue volume compared to those in the lowest quartile.
Higher ultraprocessed food intake was associated with significantly higher odds of MRI-defined vascular brain injury.
No significant associations were observed between ultraprocessed food intake and cognitive performance.
The study was a cross-sectional design enrolling middle-aged Canadian adults from two cohort studies over multiple years.
This research examined the eating habits and health outcomes of nearly 9,000 middle-aged Canadian adults to understand whether eating lots of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) — such as packaged snacks, ready meals, and processed meats — is linked to body fat, brain vessel damage, and mental sharpness. Participants completed detailed food questionnaires and underwent a range of measurements including MRI brain scans and cognitive tests. The study found that people who ate the most UPFs had meaningfully higher body fat percentages and more fat stored around their internal organs compared to those who ate the least, but no difference in liver fat was detected. Importantly, people in the highest category of UPF consumption were 40% more likely to show signs of silent vascular brain injury — damage to small brain blood vessels detected on MRI scans — compared to those who ate the least UPFs. This type of brain injury can occur without obvious symptoms but is associated with stroke and dementia risk over time. However, despite this finding, higher UPF intake was not associated with worse scores on cognitive tests measuring memory and processing speed at the time of the study. This research suggests that a diet high in ultraprocessed foods may contribute to both body fat accumulation and subtle brain vascular damage even before any obvious cognitive symptoms appear in middle age. However, because this was a cross-sectional study — meaning it looked at one point in time — it cannot determine whether UPF consumption caused these outcomes or whether people with these health conditions happened to eat more UPFs. The authors emphasize that longer-term follow-up studies are needed to clarify the direction of these relationships.
Upload your bloodwork. We'll cross-reference your results against this study and 4,700 others.
Upload Your Labsde Souza R, Schulze K, Desai D, Després J, Dummer T, Friedrich M, et al.. (2026). Ultraprocessed Food Intake and Adiposity, Vascular Brain Injury, and Cognition in Middle-Aged Adults.. JAMA network open. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.39118