Ultra-processed foods: what they're doing to your brain

Many ultra-processed foods have a strong effect on the brain's reward system. (Image: Elena Scotti, The Wall Street Journal)

The Wall Street Journal

Sun, 17 Mar 2024

By Andrea PetersenUltra-processed foods may affect not only our bodies, but our brains, too.New research suggests links between such foods – chips, many cereals and most packaged snacks at the grocery store, for example – and changes in the way we learn, remember and feel. These foods can act like addictive substances, researchers say, and some scientists are proposing a new mental health condition called “ultra-processed food use disorder”. Diets filled with such foods may raise the risk of mental health and s...

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