Ultra-processed foods are detrimental to your health

A new study by French researchers has shown that diets containing "ultra-processed" foods increase the risk of premature death. Ultra-processed foods are defined as foods made in a variety of industrial processes and taken as snacks, ready-to-eat ready meals or hot meals or desserts.

Chicken nuggets and ultra-processed foods. Image credit: AS Food studio / Shutterstock

This includes hamburgers, soft drinks, crisps, chocolate, sweets, ice cream, sweet breakfast cereals, pre-packaged soups, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, fries and more . The results of the study were published in the last issue of the journal JAMA internal medicine.

For this study, Dr. Laure Schnabel, Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot and Benjamin Allès of the Paris-Sorbonne University examined a population of 44,551 men and women over 45 years old. Their diet and state of health were monitored for a period of seven years until December 15, 2017. These participants participated in the NutriNet-Santé French study. This is an online nutritional study conducted throughout the country from May 2009. Of the participants, 73.1% were women and the average age of all participants at the beginning of the study was 57 years old. Participants received online questionnaires of 24 questions to be completed by participants every 6 months of the follow-up period. Participants had to support their reports with photographs of the portion sizes consumed throughout the day. The results showed that for every 10% increase in ultra-processed food consumption, the risk of premature death was increased by 14%.

The team encountered 602 deaths during participant follow-up, of which 219 were due to cancer and 34 to heart disease or coronary heart disease. Dr. Laure Schnabe and colleagues said: "An increase in ultra-processed food consumption seems to be badociated with a higher overall risk of death in this adult population." They noted that 29% of calories consumed participants came from these ultra-processed foods. 14.1% of the total weight of food consumed was ultra-processed.

The team noted that younger, less educated people living alone were more likely to weigh heavier than others. They tended to have low physical activity and a more sedentary lifestyle. The researchers explain that the slat and refined sugar content of these processed foods is high. The high sodium content in foods is linked to the cancer of the stomach and to the heart diseases that they write. The refined sugar content is linked to diabetes, metabolic syndrome and heart disease, they add. In addition, the fiber content of these foods is low, which also affects health.

The team wrote: "The results of this prospective study conducted with a large French cohort suggest for the first time, to our knowledge, that an increased proportion of ultra-processed foods in the diet is badociated with higher risk of overall mortality ". choose these foods because of their lower costs, ease of preparation and consumption, and longer shelf life. They write that manufacturers aggressively market these foods and that these are prominently displayed in supermarkets.

The authors conclude, "Further studies are needed to confirm these findings in different populations and to unravel the different mechanisms by which ultra-processed foods can affect health, including their nutritional characteristics and their characteristics related to food processing." have increased in recent decades and could lead to a growing burden of deaths from noncommunicable diseases, "they said.