A large study suggests there may be one powerful reason to limit your consumption of ultra-processed foods: premature death.
The study, of 115,000 people, found that volunteers who consumed large amounts of ultra-processed foods, especially processed meats, sugary breakfast foods and sugary and artificially sweetened drinks, were more likely to die prematurely.
The research, published on Wednesday in the journal BMJadds to a growing body of evidence that associates ultra-processed foods with an extensive rate of health problems.
Ultra-processed foods span a broad category from cookies, chips and chips to hot dogs, white bread and frozen meals. Scientists say what these foods have in common is that they are typically formulations of industrial ingredients designed by manufacturers to reach a certain “pleasure point”, which makes us crave and overeat. They also tend to be low in nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber.
Ultra-processed products are basically made from industrial ingredients and have few nutrients. Photograph: beats_/Adobe Stock
Here are some of the key findings:
- Mortality risk: When researchers looked at consumption of ultra-processed foods, they found that participants who consumed more (on average, seven servings of these foods per day or more) had a slightly higher risk of dying early compared to people who consumed fewer ultra-processed foods.
- Brain health: The study found that people who consumed the most ultra-processed foods were 8% more likely to die from neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, dementia and Parkinson’s disease. But they did not find an increased risk of deaths from cancer or cardiovascular disease.
- Increased risk due to certain foods: The researchers found that certain ultra-processed foods were particularly associated with harm. These included processed meats, white bread, sugary cereals and other highly processed breakfast foods, potato chips, sugary snacks, sugary drinks, and artificially sweetened beverages such as diet sodas.
- Study limitations: The researchers cautioned that their findings were not definitive. The study only showed associations, not cause and effect. People who consume a lot of ultra-processed foods tend to engage in other unhealthy habits. They eat fewer fruits, vegetables and whole grains, are more likely to smoke and are less likely to be physically active. The researchers took these factors into account when they did their analysis, but other variables may also have played a role.
The risks of highly ultra-processed diets
In recent years, studies have found that maintaining a diet high in ultra-processed foods makes people gain weight quickly and increases the risk of at least 32 different health conditionsincluding cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, anxiety, depression and dementia.
Some studies have also found that diets high in ultra-processed foods increase the risk of premature death. But many of these studies were relatively small, short in duration, or did not investigate specific causes of death.
The new study addressed these questions by analyzing data from tens of thousands of adults who were followed for more than 30 years, says Mingyang Song, lead author of the study and professor of clinical epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“There has been great interest from both the public and the scientific community in understanding the health impact of ultra-processed foods, which now account for more than 60% of Americans’ daily calories,” Song commented in an email.
The study included two groups, a cohort of approximately 75,000 registered nurses who were followed from 1984 to 2018, and a cohort of approximately 40,000 male physicians and health care professionals who were followed from 1986 to 2018. Participants answered questions about their health and lifestyle habits every two years and provided details about the foods they consumed every four years.
Previous studies have found that consuming too many ultra-processed foods can drive inflammation in the brain and weaken the blood-brain barrier, setting the stage for neurodegeneration. There is also evidence that ultra-processed foods can harm overall health by reducing insulin sensitivity, disrupting the gut microbiota and driving weight gain and chronic inflammation throughout the body.
Some foods are better than others
The new findings support the idea that Not all ultra-processed foods are the same and that some, like whole grain bread, for example, may even be healthy, according to an editorial that accompanied the study in BMJ.
Some countries have implemented public health measures to help people improve their diets, such as banning companies from using trans fats in their products, putting warning labels on sugary foods, and restricting the marketing of unhealthy foods to children.
The authors of the editorial BMJKathryn E. Bradbury and Sally Mackay, two nutrition experts at the University of Auckland, said these and other public health interventions should be adopted more widely.
“Our global food system is dominated by packaged foods that often have a poor nutritional profile,” they wrote. “This system largely serves the objectives of multinational food companies, which formulate food products from cheap raw materials into marketable, palatable, shelf-stable food products with a focus on profit.”
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