FOR RELEASE 28 October 2025

Reduced brain health linked to refined carbohydrates, including sugar, and excess body fat

Scientists propose new strategies to address alarming worldwide declines in cognitive function

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Simple public health strategies similar to those used to curb tobacco use could rapidly turn the global tide of poor brain health, scientists say.

Publishing in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, researchers Philip Maffetone and Paul Laursen highlight the links between refined carbohydrate intake, excess body fat and the reduction of brain health—now affecting about 80 percent of the world’s population.

It‘s estimated that by 2040 neurodegenerative disease—the end-stage of unhealthy brains—will become the second-leading cause of death worldwide. Early reductions in brain health can contribute to cognitive and behavioral problems such as poor learning, human error, depression, mental fatigue, and many others that present long before diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s appear.

This disturbing trend of reduced brain health can be decelerated or even prevented with the simple measure of reducing consumption of refined carbohydrates, including sugar, Maffetone and Laursen say.

While population health is often viewed as being influenced by social factors, this scientific paper also addresses the effects of brain dysfunction on the health of individuals, populations, society, and the planet.

A primary cause of declining brain health, which can begin early in life, including childhood, is associated with the global rise of diet-induced excess body fat, now called the overfat pandemic. 

The overfat pandemic is strongly related to the overconsumption of refined carbohydrates fueled by its addiction-related compulsive intake. Globally, public health policies have failed to address this key cause of diminishing brain health, excess body fat, and chronic illness; governments have even encouraged it.

The problem is not only prevalent in Western countries but now in India, China and Africa. 

Refined carbohydrates and their metabolic consequences are already associated to the dramatic increase of many chronic diseases and unchecked healthcare costs. While refined carbohydrates may be a primary cause of excess body fat and poor brain health, these foods are relatively easy to restrict and control through public health measures.

By reducing or eliminating refined carbohydrate foods, nutrient-dense healthy items replaced in the diet can also improve brain health. As such, the authors propose relatively simple, cost-effective public policy strategies to create rapid improvements in individual and population health. 

These polices go beyond measures used to control tobacco use, and include sugar taxation and marketing restrictions, financial incentives for individuals, school-based nutrition programs, elimination of government lobbying influence and junk food subsidies, and others. 

Also important is discouraging deceptive advertising and labeling of food ingredients. For example, most products called “whole grain” or “whole wheat” are not—they still contain refined carbohydrates that can negate the possible benefits of any truly whole grains present in the product or diet. 

The authors characterize sugar as the new tobacco, with Dr. Maffetone adding, “Most people know how bad tobacco is, but the harms from sugar are still a hard sell.”

A larger global public health initiative, void of big business and lobbying, to reduce the consumption of unhealthy food is essential for improving brain and body health, for individuals and societies across the planet, the authors say.

Read the full scientific paper: Refined Carbohydrates and the Overfat Pandemic: Implications for Brain Health and Public Health Policy.