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There’s been a surge in our consumption of ultra-processed foods, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States, where these foods contribute about two-thirds of people’s caloric intake.
Also a cause for concern is emerging evidence of ultra-processed foods’ detrimental effect on our brain health and overall well-being.
When most of our calories come from ultra-processed foods, the risk of chronic physical and mental health conditions escalates. Scientists are now uncovering the intricate mechanisms behind this relationship, particularly concerning the effects of these foods on our brains.
In today’s episode, we welcome back Prof. Felice Jacka, OAM. Felice is an Alfred Deakin professor of nutritional psychiatry and the director of the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University, in Australia. She’s also the founder of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research and the world’s leading researcher on food’s impact on our brain and mental health.
Now, she’s back on the show to delve deeper into the effects of ultra-processed foods on mental health and the brain, specifically the hippocampus, an area responsible for learning and memory.
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Timecodes:
00:00 Intro
01:19 Quick fire questions
04:17 What is ultra processed food?
05:37 What is the NOVA classification?
08:18 How does food impact the brain?
10:33 What does the hippocampus do to influence our brain function?
12:58 Is there a link between the size of the hippocampus and quality of diet?
13:45 Is there a link between the quality of diet and depression?
20:37 What are the effects of long term dietary habits?
21:33 Is there a link between poor diet and dementia
23:18 Is there a link between autism and diet?
24:00 How real is the link between diet and dementia?
24:57 What is the oral microbiome?
28:16 New trial between whole foods and vitamin enriched nutritional foods
29:28 How does processing foods impact the makeup of foods on a molecular level?
32:10 How does the biodiversity around us affect our body?
33:08 How does the industrialized food environment impact us?
35:50 How strong is the evidence for this? is it comparable to smoking?
39:12 Practical tips to help with our diet
40:07 How does reducing consumption of UPF affect us?
41:25 How to cut down on UPF
44:04 Is it too late to change your diet?
45:39 Does exercise impact our brain?
47:41 Summary
52:57 Goodbyes/Outro
Mentioned in today’s episode:
- The SMILES trial published in BMC Medicine
- Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Mental Health published in Nutrients
- Western diet is associated with a smaller hippocampus also in BMC Medicine
Learn more about Felice on the Food & Mood Centre’s website.