Frozen ready-to-eat meals can be a godsend on hectic work days. Plus, nothing beats that first bubbly sip of cold soda. And we love a pre-packaged breakfast pastry as much as the next person. But what do all these delicious items have in common? They fall under the ultraprocessed foods (UPF) umbrella. Consuming “bad-for-you” foods in moderation is key, but this is a food category you’re better off ditching altogether. Americans who eat ultraprocessed foods face a 14 percent greater risk of premature death, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
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What counts as ultraprocessed foods?
Ultraprocessed foods (not to be confused with processed foods, which are a completely different beast) are made from oil, fat, sugar, starch, protein, and other substances that are “extracted from food or derived from hydrogenated fats or modified starches,” according to Yale Medicine. They’re often pumped with flavor enhancers, food dyes (like Red 40!), thickeners, and additives—all of which aren’t natural or good for you. Also, ultraprocessed foods typically have long ingredient lists.
Examples of ultraprocessed foods include processed meat, sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages, pastries, frozen meals, instant noodles, and flavored yogurt. (For context: Processed foods are natural foods that contain processed culinary ingredients, such as olive oil, sugars, honey, butter, and coarse salt. Examples include salted nuts, canned veggies, beef jerky, and tomato paste.)
Researchers found that eating ultraprocessed foods can lead to a 14 percent greater risk of premature death.
Eduardo Augusto Fernandes Nilson, DSc, lead study author at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Brazil, said in a press statement, “assessing deaths from all-causes associated with UPF consumption allows an overall estimate of the effect of industrial food processing on health.”
For the study, researchers synthesized the correlation between food patterns and all-cause mortality to better understand the causation and prevalence of ultraprocessed food-related premature death.
To do so, they gathered dietary surveys from 239,982 participants (ages varied between 30 and 69) in eight countries, including the U.S., the United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Chile, and Colombia. These were cross-referenced against 14,779 death records.
According to their findings, for “each 10 percent increase in ultraprocessed food contribution to total energy intake, there is a corresponding 2.7 percent rise in the risk of all-cause mortality.”
Approximately 14 percent of premature deaths in the U.S. and U.K. were linked to ultraprocessed foods. Data also revealed that 124,107 premature deaths in the U.S. were connected to a high consumption of ultraprocessed foods between 2017 and 2018.
Cause of death was attributed to 32 different diseases that were exacerbated or brought on by the consumption of ultraprocessed foods. Some of these include cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, certain types of cancer, and depression. Nilson called the study’s results “concerning” and a wake-up call to do better.
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“It is concerning that, while in high-income countries ultraprocessed food consumption is already high but relatively stable for over a decade, in low- and middle-income countries the consumption has continuously increased, meaning that while the attributable burden in high-income countries is currently higher, it is growing in the other countries,” he said.
“This shows that policies that disincentivize the consumption of ultraprocessed foods are urgently needed globally, promoting traditional dietary patterns based on local fresh and minimally processed foods,” he concluded.
Content shared from bestlifeonline.com.