The intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with an increased risk of death, the study reveals health

Older people who reported eating more ultra-processed foods were nearly 10 percent more likely to die after an average follow-up of 23 years than older people who reported eating less processed food, according to a recent study.

The results are drawn from a large study that followed more than 500,000 people in the United States for about thirty years. The findings showed that consuming more ultra-processed foods was associated with slightly increased deaths from heart disease and diabetes, as well as deaths from all causes. However, no correlation was observed in cancer deaths.

“The results of our study support a larger literature, including observational and experimental studies, which show that ultra-processed food intake negatively affects health and longevity,” said Erikka Loftfield, PhD, Stadtman Investigator at the National Cancer Institute. . “However, there is still much we do not know, including which aspects of ultra-processed foods pose potential health risks.”

Loftfield will present the findings at NUTRITION 2024, the main annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition held June 29 through July 2 in Chicago. (Also read | How often should you really weigh yourself?)

The research drew on data from more than 540,000 people who provided information about their eating habits and health in the mid-1990s, when they were between 50 and 71 years old. More than half of the participants have since died. The researchers analyzed overall death rates among those in the 90th percentile for ultra-processed food consumption at baseline versus those in the 10th percentile, and also looked at associations with specific foods and specific diseases.

“We found that highly processed meat and soft drinks are some of the subgroups of ultra-processed foods most strongly associated with mortality risk, and eating a diet low in these foods is already recommended for disease prevention and health promotion. Loftfield said. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting sugar-sweetened beverages and processed meats such as hot dogs, sausages and deli meats.

For this study, researchers used multiple strategies to classify the level of processing of different food items. This involved disaggregating food frequency questionnaire data into specific food types and ingredients, in addition to incorporating expert consensus on categorizing dietary ingredients under a rubric known as the NOVA classification system.

The researchers also took into account other factors that can increase a person’s risk of death, such as smoking and obesity. They found that people who consumed more ultra-processed foods also tended to have a higher body mass index and a lower healthy eating index (a measure of diet quality based on how closely the diet matches a person with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans).

However, the analysis showed that the associations between ultra-processed food consumption and increased mortality were not explained by these variables, as the associations between higher ultra-processed food intake and mortality risk persisted in people categorized as better quality or worse of the diet. as among those classified as normal weight or obese.