10 Foods That Hinder Brain Development and Cause Diseases

2.3.2025 0 comments

Author: Trisha Houghton, CNS, ASIST

You are what you eat. That statement is truer than ever in our modern society with all its highly processed, industrial-grown food.

So much of what we eat delivers a flavor punch but because that flavor is artificial, the food itself provides very little in the way of nutrients.

We see the cost of that lack of nutrients reflected in our health and wellness. Our bodies start to break down, our digestive systems fail, and worst of all, our brains suffer the most.

In this article, we’re going to focus on that last: on how your brain suffers from eating the WRONG foods.

We’ll look at ten foods that hinder brain development, cause disease, contribute to neurodegeneration, and accelerate brain aging. We’ll go deep into the science to show you exactly how you are contributing to the deterioration of your own psychological, mental, and cognitive health with your food choices.

By the end of this blog post, you’ll be aware of how eating the wrong foods will cost you—both now and definitely in the future.

Making smart food choices, as you’ll see, can make all the difference in your neurological health and function!

10 Foods That Hinder Brain Development and Cause Diseases

1. Artificially Colored Foods

Take a look at all the food in your pantry, and you’re all but guaranteed to find at least one that contains artificial food colorings.

Maybe it’s just the tiniest bit, added to make your tomato sauce look extra red. Or maybe there’s a lot, which is how we get purple Gatorade, blue tortilla chips, lime green Jell-O, and breakfast cereals in every color of the rainbow. 

Food coloring is added into a wide range of modern foods, including cakes, frostings, pastries, candy, chewing gum, ketchup, dressings, dips, sauces, yogurts, and pickles. Even some of your pet foods have food colorings.

There is a great deal of research indicating that food coloring can be bad for your brain.

In 2011, the FDA Food Advisory Committee admitted that “For certain susceptible children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other problem behaviors…the data suggest that their condition may be exacerbated by exposure to a number of substances in food, including…synthetic color additives.” ^[1]

Concern over the safety of food colorings led the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to conduct a widespread review, with the findings published in 2022 proving that “a relationship between food dye exposure and adverse behavioral outcomes in children” does exist, and that there is “an association between synthetic food dyes and behavioral impacts in children.” ^[2]

A study from way back in 2007 ^[3] found that children “showed a significantly adverse effect” when given foods containing food colorings, including higher levels of hyperactivity.

You might be thinking, “Well, I don’t let my children consume products with food colorings”—or “I don’t even have kids”—“so how does this apply to me?”

Well, you might be interested to learn the deleterious effects aren’t only limited to children.

A 2021 study ^[4]  found that “erythrosine and tartrazine dyes significantly provoke the release of oxido-nitrergic and neuroinflammatory stress markers and also may incite acetyl-cholinesterase activities in different brain regions”. The combination of these effects led to “memory and neurobehavioral impairment.”

2. Sugary Drinks

Sugar is one of the worst things that you can feed your brain.

We’re not talking about the natural sugars found in fruits, veggies, and other whole foods. In this case, we’re referring specifically to the highly refined sugar typically present in sugary drinks like sodas, processed juices, and “fruit drinks”.

One expert called sugar the “worst food for brain health” and offered a lengthy list of all the ways that sugar negatively impacted brain health, including ^[5]:

• Raising your risk of metabolic syndrome and metabolic dysfunction
• Elevating the likelihood of stroke and other brain vascular diseases
• Raising the blood pressure in your brain
• Contributing to depression
• Accelerating cognitive decline
• Increasing your risk of dementia

Harvard Medical School also published a lengthy statement on the dangers of sugar and sugary drinks for your brain ^[6]. They explained that “although the brain needs glucose, too much of this energy source can be a bad thing.”

They went on to cite research proving that high sugar intake leads to the accelerated aging of brain cells, memory deficiencies, and cognitive decline.

A review of multiple medical studies ^[7] concluded that, “soft drinks can exert adverse effects include an increase in glutathione-6-dehydrogenase level, increased levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamate and dopamine alteration in brain waves on electroencephalography (EEG) eventually leading to stroke and dementia.”

Soft drinks also “increase the oxidative stress by a decreasing monoamine oxidase and acetylcholine esterase and antioxidants such as glutathione and catalase” and can impact sleep quality and duration of sleep.

But sugar’s not the only source of harm. The study also found that sodium benzoate, commonly added to beverages, affected memory and motor coordination, lowered glutathione (GSH) and raised malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in the brain.

3. White Flour Products

Cakes, cookies, pastries, flour tortillas, bread—if it’s made from refined white flour, it’s guaranteed to be terrible for your brain health.

First of all, the flour has been stripped of all nutrients, so it’s doing nothing to provide your brain with the minerals, vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants it needs to function.

On top of that, most white flour products are made with sugar (in varying quantities). The refined sugar added into white flour products can have similar negative effects on your brain as sugary drinks, only with significantly more calories to increase your risk of obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular health problems.

Research ^[8] suggests that refined flour products are more likely to cause anxiety, mood imbalances, and cognitive decline. Foods high on the Glycemic Index (which white flour products definitely are) have been proven to be “a risk factor for depression” ^[9].

4. Alcohol

The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism makes the dangers of alcohol for your brain very clear: “Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways and can affect the way the brain looks and works. Alcohol makes it harder for the brain areas controlling balance, memory, speech, and judgment to do their jobs, resulting in a higher likelihood of injuries and other negative outcomes. Long-term heavy drinking causes alterations in the neurons, such as reductions in their size.” ^[10]

Admittedly, most of the research into the negative effects of alcohol on the human brain have examined excessive drinking. However, one study from 2017 ^[11] found that even moderate drinking could cause adverse brain outcomes, including atrophy in the hippocampus, which is involved in both learning and cognition. Another study ^[12] found that even moderate drinkers had a higher risk of strokes and experienced at least some abnormalities and deteriorations in their white brain matter.

5. Fast Food

Fast food, also called junk food, falls into the same category as white flour products. Typically high in calories and fats (many artificial) but virtually devoid of nutrients, they tend to be high on the Glycemic Index and more likely to elevate your risk of obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular conditions, all of which can have negative outcomes for your brain health.

Harvard Medical School published the findings of one study ^[13] that linked fast food to decreased cognitive function. After following 11,000 dementia-free people for eight years, the research found that those who ate the largest quantities of junk food had up to 28% higher likelihood of cognitive decline than those who ate little to no junk food.

Other research ^[14] has linked junk food to:

• Higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease
• Detrimental changes to brain structures that can accelerate cognitive decline
• Exacerbated age-related cognitive decline
• Worsened cognition in people over 60
• Malformation of neurotransmitters that facilitate communication between brain cells
• Higher levels of chronic inflammation in the brain

All in all, it’s clear to see why junk food should definitely not be on your menu!

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6. Breakfast Cereal

While some whole-grain breakfast cereals may improve brain function, attention, focus, and brain energy ^[15], the majority of the breakfast cereal consumed around the country—and, let’s be honest, around the world—likely falls into the “junk food” and “sugary food” categories.

Many breakfast cereals are made from refined flour and bleached grains stripped of all nutrients. They’ve got excessive amounts of sugar added and often include a hefty dose of artificial food colorings as well.

One study ^[16] found that people who consume breakfast cereals regularly experience poorer cognitive performance right after eating. And the performance impairment continued for years as long as people continued to consume ready-to-eat breakfast cereals.

When Harvard Medical School published their list of “Ultra-processed foods linked to poorer brain health” in mid-2023, it should come as no surprise to you that packaged cereals were included in that list right alongside sweets and frozen meals ^[17].

7. Instant Noodles

Instant noodles may be tasty and flavorful, but want to hazard a guess where all that great taste comes from? You guessed it: artificial flavorings!

The artificial flavorings in instant noodles are a source of much debate. Some studies indicate there are no neurological risks ^[18], while others have discovered some very real negative effects to your cognitive health and brain function ^[19].

But remember: instant noodles are also typically made using the same refined white flour that is present in cakes, cookies, and baked treats.

WebMD states that people “who eat instant noodles over two times a week are…more at risk to develop metabolic syndrome. This is regardless of how many other healthy dishes they eat or if they have a high level of physical activity. The culprit is the highly processed ingredients like saturated fat and high sodium. They contribute to high blood sugar, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.” ^[20]

Metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes can also accelerate cognitive decline and impair brain function. 

8. Artificial Sweeteners

Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are often touted as a “safe” or “healthy” alternative to sugar. But the research has proven those claims wildly untrue!

A study from back in 2017 listed many of neurophysiological symptoms resulting from frequent consumption of artificial foods, including “learning problems, headache, seizure, migraines, irritable moods, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.” ^[21]

Chemical sweeteners can also “elevate the levels of phenylalanine and aspartic acid”, which “can inhibit the synthesis and release of neurotransmitters, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, which are known regulators of neurophysiological activity.”

The study went on to state that chemical sweeteners can act as a “chemical stressor by elevating plasma cortisol levels and causing the production of excess free radicals. High cortisol levels and excess free radicals may increase the brains vulnerability to oxidative stress which may have adverse effects on neurobehavioral health.”

Another study found that consumption of artificially sweetened foods (soft drinks, in this case) could lead to “increased risk of ischemic stroke, all-cause dementia, and Alzheimers disease dementia.” ^[22]

One 2023 animal study ^[23] found that daily consumption of artificial sweeteners “produces significant spatial learning and memory deficits”. More than that, though, “the cognitive deficits are transmitted to male and female descendants along the paternal lineage suggesting that aspartame’s adverse cognitive effects are heritable, and that they are more pervasive than current estimates, which consider effects in the directly exposed individuals only.”

Take a moment to let that sink in! Consumption of artificial sweeteners won’t just affect you negatively, but the effects could be passed down to future generations. This is because sweeteners and sugars can actually alter genes in your brain ^[24]. Those alterations can be inherited by your children and passed down.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is another dangerous one to beware of. Animal studies ^[25] have proven that the high levels of fructose in HFCS can “adversely influence brain health by promoting neuroinflammation, brain mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress, as well as insulin resistance” and decrease both “synaptic plasticity and cognition”.

9. Margarine

Margarine is a butter alternative made using hydrogenated oils and trans fats, which research has linked to higher rates of dementia and neurodegeneration.

One study ^[26] found that people who consume high levels of trans fats are more likely to suffer from cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s, and dementia as they age.

The reason is that trans fats have the capability to distort cellular membranes ^[27]. This distortion can actually alter the neurotransmitters in your brain and reduce their ability to communicate. Over time, mental performance is diminished, which can lead to cognitive decline as well as higher rates of depression.

10. Bottled Dressings and Marinades

A lot of salad dressings and marinades are made using sugars or artificial sweeteners, food colorings, artificial flavorings, preservatives, and a host of other chemicals that can have negative effects like those we discussed above.

Cream-based dressings (like ranch, blue cheese, or Caesar) tend to have high levels of trans fats and are high on the Glycemic Index. Their high fat content contributes to higher risk of obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular conditions, all of which can negatively affect the brain.

Fat-free dressings and sauces aren’t a better option, either, as they tend to be higher in sugar and artificial sweeteners and flavorings than their regular counterparts.

 And, to top it off, they provide excess calories without providing any nutritional value to your food. They’re not the worst offender on our list, but they’re one more you’d do well to avoid!

Wrapping Up: Eat Smart for Better Brain Function

As you’ve seen, there are some very real dangers to your brain if you eat these foods!

High consumption of the ten foods we listed above can lead to a wide range of health problems, everything from impaired brain function to decreased neuroplasticity, higher stroke risk to lower cognitive function.

But now that you know the risks are present, the solution is simple: cut these foods out of your diet.

Make a point to eat only natural foods that you cook for yourself from raw ingredients. Eat whole grains instead of refined flour products and cut breakfast cereals from your diet entirely. Scale your alcohol intake way back or stop drinking altogether. Eat fewer ready-to-eat meals like instant noodles, cereals, and frozen meals that are rich in sweeteners, trans fats, dressings, and sauces.

Be smart by cutting these foods from your weekly menu, and you’ll protect your brain function and stave off cognitive decline as you age!

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