In 46 children ages 7 to 10, higher ultra-processed food intake lined up with a stronger food-cue response in the dorsal striatum and more body fat one year later

What the research found

ScienceDaily dated its page 3 November 2026. The feed clock falls on 4 November in Bangkok. The report covers a JAMA Network Open cohort from USC. Jasmin M. Alves, Kathleen A. Page, and colleagues studied 46 children ages 7 to 10 in the BrainChild study. Every child had a healthy weight at the start. At baseline they viewed pictures of appealing foods during MRI, and the team recorded diet, body mass index, body fat, and waist circumference. Children who ate more ultra-processed food showed greater activity in the dorsal striatum. Stronger activity in that region also lined up with larger gains in body mass index and body fat over the next year. By one year, higher ultra-processed intake also lined up with higher body mass index, body fat, and waist circumference. Accounting for the dorsal striatum response weakened the intake-to-body-mass-index association by 31 percent and the intake-to-body-fat association by 44 percent. The study is observational. It records a link. It does not show that these foods change the brain. The authors say a later trial would offer less processed foods and repeat the scans. DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.40252. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.

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