Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds • Hacker News Board

Re: Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds

#81

Post by helmholtz » Mon, Aug 01, 2022, 6:25 PM UTC

vkk8 wrote: post #27

omarhaneef wrote: post #8

I wish I knew what was ultraprocessed. > "Ultraprocessed foods are defined as "industrial formulations of food substances (oils, fats, sugars, starch, and protein isolates) that contain little or no whole foods and typically include flavorings, colorings, emulsifiers, and other cosmetic additives," according to the study. But if I have a package that says it is whole grain or whatever, how do I know if it is or isn't…

Indeed. I hate the term "ultraprocessed" so much, because I have no idea what to look for if I try to avoid it. If I chop my potatoes before boiling them, is that processing? If not, which steps in cooking count as "processing"? And how many of those steps need to be included for the food to be "ultraprocessed"? How can I avoid accidentally "ultraprocessing" my food when I cook it at home?

Why are you seeking absolute definitions where none exist? If you have to ask, its probably bad for you. Edges of the grocery store, avoid the aisles, ingredients-not-meals, things not in packaging.... Rules of thumbs abound. Next, a bit of ultra processed stuff is obviously not going to kill you. Some soy sauce, or the ocassional frozen pizza is obviously OK. And its obvious that your example is needlessly contrived. No, its not processing.

This whole thread reads like pedantry for the sake of it.

Re: Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds

#82

Post by giantg2 » Mon, Aug 01, 2022, 6:25 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #28

It's not clear that "ultraprocessed" is the issue. The article says "they are usually very high in sugar, salt and fat". Too much salt and sugar are known to be problems. That has nothing to do with processing. Although it does have to do with what will sell. The author has a "natural" bias.

Well... salt is generally used to preserve texture and flavor. At least that's from my canning background. It's possible to reduce some salt, but really depends.

There's emerging evidence that consuming potassium with salt tends to reduce the negative effects of higher salt intake. Basically, that many of the prior sodium studies ignored the sodium/potassium balance. Of course you could still have too much sodium while staying in balance, but just thought that's worth pointing out. If nothing else, it illustrates how complex it nutrition science can be, and how much we still have to learn (or at least dispel popular half-truths).

Re: Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds

#83

Post by sudden_dystopia » Mon, Aug 01, 2022, 6:25 PM UTC

kaesar14 wrote: post #45

cortesoft wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For those of us living alone it takes a good chunk of our free time after work. It takes even more time for people preparing food for a family. Throw in kids who are picky eaters, and it is even harder.

You can make your kids not picky by putting a plate in front of them and providing the choice of either eating it or going to bed hungry. Kids aren't born only wanting to eat chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese.

This is the way. I also gave them the extra option to eat fruit instead of what I made. Also works wonders in the morning when he gets dressed slowly. “Oh you aren’t ready,bummer, looks like we are going to school in your pj’s”. Only needs to happen once and they get ready real quick.

Re: Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds

#84

Post by nonethewiser » Mon, Aug 01, 2022, 6:25 PM UTC

photochemsyn wrote: post #2

There are a wide variety of heavily promoted dietary identities - from vegan to carnivore - but I'm convinced that in terms of one's health, eliminating these processed food items from one's diet is the one that has the most long-term benefits. The only downside is that relying only on 'real food' ingredients requires a fair amount of cooking, but the effort is well worth the payback. There's no snappy one-word term…

> There are a wide variety of heavily promoted dietary identities - from vegan to carnivore - but I'm convinced that in terms of one's health, eliminating these processed food items from one's diet is the one that has the most long-term benefits.

What has you convinced?

I wouldn't be surprised, but I'm curious if you're relying on anything more than intuition. I don't think intuition is worthless, for whatever it's worth. Seems like a pretty common-sense idea that non-fresh foods could have adverse effects.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's a major factor in increased rates of cancer, which is surely a combination of many mild factors that accumulate over a long period of time.

Re: Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds

#85

Post by cortesoft » Mon, Aug 01, 2022, 6:26 PM UTC

jjulius wrote: post #70

kaesar14 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can make your kids not picky by putting a plate in front of them and providing the choice of either eating it or going to bed hungry. Kids aren't born only wanting to eat chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese.

It's not as easy as "going to bed hungry". It requires work by parents to provide a positive environment when it comes to food - never giving certain foods a stigma, not putting pressure on them to "eat their vegetables", never reminding them what they like or don't like, always making meals positive, letting them choose what to eat, etc.. The concept is, I believe, called "baby-led weaning"; my wife discovered it an…

While your suggestions about how to treat food as to not create issues down the road are correct, I still think you are attributing too much power to parents. Everyone wants to believe that if you just do these certain things, then your kids will turn out a certain way. That just isn't true; while a parent can help shift some things, a lot of things are just about how a particular kid is. Some kids are just more picky than others, no matter what parenting techniques you use.

Re: Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds

#86

Post by jhot » Mon, Aug 01, 2022, 6:27 PM UTC

Sounds similar to this paper [0] that compared the types of dietary fats eaten with cognitive decline in adults 65+.

"higher intakes of saturated fat (p for trend = 0.04) and trans-unsaturated fat (p for trend = 0.07) were linearly associated with greater decline in cognitive score over 6 years. These associations became stronger in analyses that eliminated persons whose fat intake changed in recent years or whose baseline cognitive scores were in the lowest 15%."

I, for one, am hoping it's largely to do with cheap, high-calorie ingredients and not to do with actually processing as I'm a big fan of Soylent (largely monounsaturated fats FYI) for its convenience and it doesn't get much more "processed" than that.

0 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15136684/

Re: Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds

#87

Post by volumetric » Mon, Aug 01, 2022, 6:28 PM UTC

kayodelycaon wrote: post #37

omginternets wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah. I work long hours and still find time to cook. Dinner takes about 15 mins to prepare, on average. I think the issue has more to do with people not knowing how to cook things that are both simple and nutritious. I really feel for people who are trying to learn; every beginner's cookbook is full of things that require specific ingredients, complicated prep work, or a shit-ton of chopping. I've toyed around with th…

I don’t know anything how to cook anything from fresh ingredients that takes just 15 minutes from entering the kitchen to going to the table to eat. It takes 7 minutes for my kettle to bring 1.5 L of water to boil. (Yay 120v…) Instant oatmeal I guess? Anything requiring dairy or eggs won’t work.

I've been cooking a long time and IME there's about a 95% chance that a recipe billed as "15 minutes" is only actually 15 minutes if you don't start the timer until all the veggies are processed, all the equipment is out, and all the ingredients are measured.

Almost always the actual time for "15-minute meal" is 30-40 minutes—sometimes even longer. Not counting stuff like clean-up (any that you can't accomplish via clean-as-you-go, anyway) or shopping or any of that, just the actual time between "I have all the stuff I need for this recipe and am going to make it now" and "OK it is ready to eat".

Re: Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds

#88

Post by nonethewiser » Mon, Aug 01, 2022, 6:28 PM UTC

omginternets wrote: post #21

omarhaneef wrote: post #8

I wish I knew what was ultraprocessed. > "Ultraprocessed foods are defined as "industrial formulations of food substances (oils, fats, sugars, starch, and protein isolates) that contain little or no whole foods and typically include flavorings, colorings, emulsifiers, and other cosmetic additives," according to the study. But if I have a package that says it is whole grain or whatever, how do I know if it is or isn't…

Rules of thumb: 1. Don't buy meals; buy ingredients. 2. The longer the list of ingredients, the more likely it is to be "highly" processed 3. The way you avoid 'highly' processed stuff is to avoid processing altogether. Buy corn you have to husk, meat you have to cut, fish you have to filet, wine you have to uncork, bread you have to slice, etc.

Don't buy non-spoiled. Buy fresh.

Re: Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds

#89

Post by collaborative » Mon, Aug 01, 2022, 6:29 PM UTC

kaesar14 wrote: post #45

cortesoft wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For those of us living alone it takes a good chunk of our free time after work. It takes even more time for people preparing food for a family. Throw in kids who are picky eaters, and it is even harder.

You can make your kids not picky by putting a plate in front of them and providing the choice of either eating it or going to bed hungry. Kids aren't born only wanting to eat chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese.

Best method that works until they are 7: make up an imaginary friend (like a fairy, gnome, etc) that visits you once a year and brings you toys IF you eat the being's favorite foods, which happen to coincide with what the child detests

Works. 100% guaranteed. They will eat everything with a smile

In my case, I use the Tio de Nadal, which makes for a fun time when he visits (Kids have to hit the Tio with a stick and sing songs, then he shits sweets and toys)

Re: Cognitive decline linked to ultraprocessed food, study finds

#90

Post by hypertele-Xii » Mon, Aug 01, 2022, 6:33 PM UTC

the_doctah wrote: post #32

pessimizer wrote: post #3

> “People need to know they should cook more and prepare their own food from scratch. I know. We say we don’t have time but it really doesn’t take that much time,” Suemoto said. This is bullshit in a very important way: you have to know how to cook. Bring back home economics classes.

Cooking is literally as simple as following a recipe.

Like playing an instrument is just following the notes?

You can do it, but the result won't be good until you practise some. Mistakes will be made. Results may have to be eaten due to financial constraints, good or not.