BRAIN HEALTH AND PROCESSED MEATS
Higher intake of processed meats (bacon, hot dogs, salami) is linked to increased dementia and cognitive decline risk, potentially due to nitrites, saturated fats, and sodium, while replacing them with nuts, legumes, or fish may lower risk, showing dietary shifts can promote brain health.
Research On Connections
High consumption of processed meats (e.g., a quarter serving daily) is linked to a 13-14% increased risk of dementia. Meurology
“If more than 20% of your daily calorie intake is ultraprocessed foods, you may be raising your risk for cognitive decline, a new study found. There was an interesting twist, however. If the quality of the overall diet was high — meaning the person also ate a lot of unprocessed, whole fruits and veggies, whole grains and healthy sources of protein — the association between ultraprocessed foods and cognitive decline disappeared” Source: CNN
Accelerated Cognitive Aging: Each extra daily serving adds about 1.6 years of cognitive aging for overall function and 1.7 years for verbal memory, say Mass General Brigham researchers and AAIC.
High Saturated Fat & Salt: Contributes to cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, and stroke risk, all damaging to the brain, note Henry Ford Health and this Neurology® journal article.
Nitrates & Preservatives: Chemicals used for curing might negatively impact brain health, say The Times and this Brain & Life article.
“Higher intake of red meat, particularly processed red meat, was associated with a higher risk of developing dementia and worse cognition” Source: Neurology.org
BIOLOGICAL AGING AND PROCESSED MEATS
Processed meats are meats that have been preserved by smoking or salting, curing or adding chemical preservatives. Unfortunately, when these processed meats are preserved, cancer-causing substances form. Eating these meats can damage your DNA, raising your cancer risk. Foods to avoid include hot dogs, corned beef, bacon, sausages, salami, beef jerky and ham.
Research On Connections
“A diet rich in UPF was associated with an acceleration of biological aging in a large sample of Italian adults. The poor nutritional composition of highly processed foods weakly accounted for this association, suggesting that biological aging could be adversely influenced by nonnutrient characteristics of these foods” Source: ScienceDirect.com
“Processed meats contain nitrites and purines which increase inflammation and lead to joint pain” Source: Eat This Not That
“Eating a hot dog could cost you 36 minutes of healthy life according to a recent study conducted by health researchers at the University of Michigan” Source: CNN
RECOMMENDED HEALTHY AGING PROTOCOL
“I Eat Processed Meats”: Answer = Never