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Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

cam.mbi.ufl.edu

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Re: Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walmart sells flour, eggs, milk… and it’s doubtful that plastic tube bread is cheaper when you can make a loaf yourself for about thirty cents.

it’s the hidden costs of time and knowledge are a factor to be accounted for.

I don’t believe this is true, it’s a coping mechanism that people use to keep from learning new skills. It’s also a very popular cope to claim “it’s more expensive” to cook at home because you typically have to buy more ingredients than you’d use to make a single serving of some food item.

If people want to stay ignorant and economically and nutritionally disadvantaged it’s not something I pity. I can’t but help feeling disgusted and scornful toward people with these attitudes. Cave people made bread.

Re: Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

#152
From the article:

Lots of ingredients, minimal nutrition

Another way to look at it: You are not likely to find the ingredients that make up most of these foods in your home kitchen.

A general rule of thumb:

The longer the list of ingredients and the more words most people would need to look up, the less likely it is to be good for you.

The shorter the list and the more normal food words on it (potatoes, oil, salt), the more likely it is to be real food and not some over processed food product.

Re: Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it’s the hidden costs of time and knowledge are a factor to be accounted for.

I don’t believe this is true, it’s a coping mechanism that people use to keep from learning new skills. It’s also a very popular cope to claim “it’s more expensive” to cook at home because you typically have to buy more ingredients than you’d use to make a single serving of some food item. If people want to stay ignorant and economically and nutritionally disadvantaged it’s not something I pity. I can’t but help feel…

I think the problem occurs when you realize its not just bread, it's almost everything at the store. For a working couple with children, they now have to make everything at home, which is not possible if both parents are working.

Re: Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

#154
post #6

It seems likely that the culprit is not dietary, but PFAS contamination from storage, processing and packaging.

There are many other factors that could be relevant here. As the article says, ultra-processed food tends to be low in nutrients. Given the little we know, that seems as likely a cause as anything else here. Also, these are not randomized studies, as they also mention. So it is possible that, say, frozen meals are used more by a higher-risk population for other reasons (like cost), and this is just a correlation.

”Lab rats gain more weight from human foods than they do from rat chow with similar nutritional properties because obesity doesn’t come from fat or carbohydrate content, but from contaminants in the food, and human food has more contaminants than the rat chow does, likely from packaging and processing.

Processed foods end up with more contaminants in them — for example, there are 4x more phthalates in Kraft mac and cheese powders than in block cheese, string cheese, and cottage cheese. Another example are these results from the FDA, as reported by the AP. In terms of explaining why the cafeteria diet is so fattening, it’s especially illustrative that grocery store chocolate cake was an extreme outlier, with concentrations of PFPeA more than 100 times higher than chocolate milk.”

Granted, that’s about phthalates, which are widely used as plasticizers, but the same routes apply for PFAS.

https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2021/07/13/a-chemical-hunger-p...

Re: Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t believe this is true, it’s a coping mechanism that people use to keep from learning new skills. It’s also a very popular cope to claim “it’s more expensive” to cook at home because you typically have to buy more ingredients than you’d use to make a single serving of some food item. If people want to stay ignorant and economically and nutritionally disadvantaged it’s not something I pity. I can’t but help feel…

I think the problem occurs when you realize its not just bread, it's almost everything at the store. For a working couple with children, they now have to make everything at home, which is not possible if both parents are working.

Of course it’s possible. It takes about five minutes to prepare a chicken.

Re: Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t believe this is true, it’s a coping mechanism that people use to keep from learning new skills. It’s also a very popular cope to claim “it’s more expensive” to cook at home because you typically have to buy more ingredients than you’d use to make a single serving of some food item. If people want to stay ignorant and economically and nutritionally disadvantaged it’s not something I pity. I can’t but help feel…

I think the problem occurs when you realize its not just bread, it's almost everything at the store. For a working couple with children, they now have to make everything at home, which is not possible if both parents are working.

Although I'm not one of them, I don't think you can call something that many people do "not possible".

Re: Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

#157
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lack of knowledge about cooking is imo the single biggest cause of health issues in the United States. People generally know that real food is healthier, but it’s not convenient and they don’t know how to cook so it’s really not even an option most of the time.

> A lack of knowledge about cooking Knowing how to cook doesn't solve the underlying problem driving someone to use food as a drug. I had laid many pots of Boeuf Bourguinon on my family's dinner table before I started shoving Big Macs into my face every night when I hit rock bottom.

Yeah I guess I just did that in the reverse order so my perspective is a bit different lol

I suppose this is something I mainly notice with people < 30. Chipotle is about the healthiest thing they eat & they legitimately have no idea how to cook. I didn’t really begin to learn or do it until I was 27 and pre-diabetic & that started turning things around for me pretty much immediately.

Re: Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem occurs when you realize its not just bread, it's almost everything at the store. For a working couple with children, they now have to make everything at home, which is not possible if both parents are working.

Of course it’s possible. It takes about five minutes to prepare a chicken.

Also you can prepare a meal in a crockpot and let it cook all day.

You can prepare and freeze meals.

Re: Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

#159

I follow a yeast-free diet to control an auto-immune disease called Hidradenitis suppurativa. Some doctors produced a study a while back where they found anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae autoantibodies in HS patients. When patients followed a yeast and wheat-free diet they would see 100% remission of symptoms. The hardest part of following this diet is avoiding yeast as it is a major flavor component in almost all "ultr…

Have you found that it has helped your Hidradenitis suppurativa too?

For me, the diet puts HS completely into remission. I've been on the yeast and wheat-free diet for about six years. While the diet is hard to follow, I never have any boils, sinus tracts or any skin inflammation. Also happily (and anecdotally) I no longer experience headaches or migraines of any kind.

Re: Ultra-processed foods may contribute to cognitive decline

#160
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a bit of a conflict between your post and it's grandparent. > Freshly baked bread can be hard to obtain in many parts of the US. For me if I wanted fresh baked bread every day and not make it myself, I'd be looking at like 40-60 minutes of extra time per day if I drive there every day. and > But there are so many super-local bakers around the world. Single neighborhoods are willing to pay full-time wages to a…

> Which I have two thoughts on, first, I'm pretty sure most people are buying bread at the grocery store. So, the availability of fresh bread (which is also frequently available in the grocery store bakery) has more to do with lack of demand than it does with lack of availability. It seems like the convenience of pre-sliced bread that doesn't go bad in a couple days is just vastly preferred over fresh bread. No my po…

Right, where my wife grew up she could just walk out the front door and go like a block or two, and there'd be fresh everything - produce, baked goods, whatever. That doesn't exist for a lot of people in the US.
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