Women's Health April 30, 2026 0 Comments

The Hidden Ingredient in Your Diet That’s Sabotaging Your Brainpower – Are You Eating It Daily?

You ever find yourself mid-scroll, wondering why your brain feels like it’s stuck in quicksand? You’re not alone. Turns out, it might not just be the late-night scrolling or that pesky stress from yesterday’s awkward Zoom call—it could be what’s on your plate. A fresh study from Australia spotted something pretty intriguing: just a small uptick in ultra-processed foods—think, a standard bag of chips—could actually nudge your attention span downhill and even tinker with markers linked to dementia risk. Wild, right? Now, before you toss every snack in sight, experts reckon this might happen because those sneaky UPFs shove out the nutrient-rich goodies your brain craves or because your body crashes hard after the sugar and salt overload. Either way, it’s a wake-up call about what we munch when we need to focus—especially if you’re gearing up for a huge presentation or just trying to remember why you walked into the room. Curious how a simple dietary tweak could sharpen your mind? LEARN MORE

3 min read

A new study found that higher intake of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) may be linked to worse attention span and slightly higher dementia risk indicators.

Even a 10% increase in UPFs—which is around a standard bag of chips—was associated with small but measurable changes in attention span.

Experts say this could be due to many reasons, whether it’s because eating UPFs leaves you less room to eat nutrient-dense food that feeds your brain or because UPFs might make you crash from the high salt and sugar content.

There are so many things that can mess with your ability to focus, from lack of sleep to ruminating on that weird interaction you had at work the day before. But new research suggests there’s one more thing to consider if your attention span hasn’t been top-notch lately: your diet.

A new study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, found a link between eating ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and a decline in focus.

Since ultra-processed foods make up about 60 percent of our food supply, it’s tough to avoid them altogether. But the findings make a case for snacking more intentionally when you’re gearing up for a big work presentation. Here’s why.

Meet the experts: Barbara Cardoso, PhD, lead study author and nutritional biochemist at Monash University; Keri Gans, RDN, dietitian and host of The Keri Report podcast; and Clifford Segil, D.O., a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

What did the study find?

For the study, researchers analyzed data on the diet and cognitive health of more than 2,100 middle-aged and older adults in Australia. Researchers analyzed the participants’ diets using the NOVA system, a common way of classifying food based on how much processing it undergoes.

All participants also completed the Cogstate Brief Battery, a 15-minute cognitive assessment tool that measures processing speed, attention, visual learning, and working memory.

After analyzing the data, the researchers discovered that for every 10 percent increase in ultra-processed food a person ate—the equivalent of a standard bag of chips—they had a 0.05 point drop in attention scores. They also had slightly higher scores on certain dementia risk indicators. Interestingly, it didn’t seem to matter whether the participants followed a Mediterranean diet, which is widely considered beneficial for the brain (and overall health).

In conclusion, “higher UPF consumption is associated with poorer attention and increased modifiable dementia risk, independent of overall diet quality,” the researchers wrote in their paper.

Why might ultra-processed foods mess with your attention span?

It’s important to note that the study didn’t prove that eating ultra-processed foods decreases your attention span, but rather, it found a link. There are a few theories on what could be going on here.

One theory is that UPFs don’t themselves reduce attention span, but that by eating them, you’re eating less nutrient-dense food that helps your brain health.

“Ultra-processed foods may reduce focus when they make up a larger share of the diet because they can leave less room for nutrients involved in attention, energy metabolism, and brain health, such as fiber, omega-3 fats, B vitamins, magnesium, iron, zinc, and antioxidants,” says Keri Gans, RDN, dietitian and host of The Keri Report podcast.

Many of these foods are also high in added sugar, sodium, and less-healthy fats, which can mess with your blood sugar, increase inflammation, and work against gut and heart health, “all of which may influence mental clarity and concentration,” Gans explains.

There’s also the possibility that people are simply more likely to feel mentally off after eating ultra-processed foods, says Clifford Segil, D.O., a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. “Maybe the drop in focus is a delayed focusing issue after people crash from eating high salt, sugar, and calorie-dense meals,” he says.

It may also be that ingredients specific to ultra-processed foods cause issues, according to Barbara Cardoso, PhD, lead study author and nutritional biochemist at Monash University. “Some ingredients present in ultra-processed foods, such as emulsifiers, may disturb the gut microbiome and the endocrine system, which could lead to negative cognitive outcomes,” Cardoso says. (Still, she stresses that more work is needed.)

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the data on the impact of ultra-processed foods on brain health has been mixed. A study published in the European Journal of Nutrition in February, for example, found no link between eating ultra-processed foods and mental decline.

Should you change your diet if you have brain fog?

While more research needs to be done to explore this link, Gans says it’s not a bad idea to reconsider your diet if you’re struggling with brain fog. “That does not mean cutting out every packaged food, but focusing more often on fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, 100 percent whole grains, fish, eggs, yogurt, and other nutrient-dense foods that may help support steadier energy and better focus,” she says.

If you’ve tried that and you’re still struggling with brain fog, it’s worth connecting with your healthcare provider for an evaluation to see what could be behind your trouble focusing.

Korin Miller is a freelance writer specializing in general wellness, sexual health and relationships, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Self, Glamour, and more. She has a master’s degree from American University, lives by the beach, and hopes to own a teacup pig and taco truck one day.

Carina Hsieh, MPH, is the deputy features editor of Women’s Health. She has more than a decade’s worth of experience working in media and has covered everything from beauty, fashion, travel, lifestyle, pets, to health.

She began her career as an intern in the fashion closet at Cosmopolitan where she worked her way up to Senior Sex & Relationships Editor. While covering women’s health there, she discovered her passion for health service journalism and took a break to get her Masters in Public Health. Post-grad school, she worked as a freelance writer and as The Daily Beast’s first Beauty, Health, and Wellness Reporter.

Carina is an alum of the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Yale School of Public Health. She and her French Bulldog, Bao Bao, split their time between Brooklyn and Connecticut. She enjoys reformer Pilates, (slow) running, and smelling the fancy toiletries in boutique fitness class locker rooms.