It’s been the craze for decades-ultra processed foods.

The packaging tells you that you are eating food that contains unpronounceable chemicals, but the taste is too good to resist.

Today there appears little time to cook, so we  throw frozen food into the microwave and that’s our meal.

Many people’s daily calorie intake consists of more than 20 per cent of ultra processed foods- that includes burgers, pizzas, hotdogs, fries, cola, cookies, ice cream, etc.

A study published in JAMA Neurology found that, apart from these foods being bad for you, they can lead to cognitive decline.

“While this is a study of association, not designed to prove cause and effect, there are a number or elements to fortify the proposition that some acceleration in cognitive decay may be attributed to ultra processed foods.

“The sample size is substantial and follow-up extensive. While short of proof, this is robust enough that we should conclude ultra processed foods are probably bad for our brains.

“Ultra processed foods drag diet quality down and thus their concentration in the diet is an indicator of poor diet quality in most cases. Atypical as it seem, apparently some of the participants managed it. And when diet quality was high, the observed association between ultra processed foods and brain function abated,” said nutritionist Dr David Katz.

It is advised that one should try to eat more natural foods as well as keep active.