Eating a lot of ultra-processed foods increases the risk of premature death, according to a 30-year study conducted in the United States and published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on Wednesday revealed that over a period of 34 years, individuals who regularly consumed a higher amount of heavily processed foods (about seven servings daily) had a higher risk of death compared to those who consumed fewer servings (around three servings per day).
“Study Links High Ultra-Processed Food Consumption to Premature Death”
Mingyang Song, who works as an associate professor in the departments of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health in Boston, USA, stated “The association is quite linear. The higher intake of ultra-processed foods, the higher mortality.A key takeaway from the study is that high consumption of ultra-processed food may modestly increase risk of earlier premature death, but this effect varies a lot by specific subgroups of ultra-processed foods and is secondary to overall dietary quality.”
He further added “Among different sub-groups of ultra-processed foods, there were distinct findings. For example, meat, poultry and seafood-based ready-to-eat products showed a strong association with [mortality]. And also, we saw some association for sugar-sweetened beverage and artificially-sweetened beverages with a higher mortality.” Song mentioned that while not all ultra-processed foods need to be completely restricted, the study’s results do support the idea of limiting certain types of ultra-processed foods, such as processed meats, for better long-term health.
“Moderating Ultra-Processed Food Intake for Reducing Premature Death Risk”
Ultra-processed foods encompass a variety of items like packaged snacks and baked goods, fizzy beverages, sugary cereals, and convenient ready-to-eat or heat products. These foods are frequently infused with colours, emulsifiers, flavours, and other additives. They tend to be calorie-dense, high in added sugars, saturated fats, and sodium, yet they lack essential vitamins and dietary fiber. There’s increasing evidence connecting ultra-processed foods to increased risks of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and bowel cancer. However, there are limited long-term studies that specifically investigate the associations with overall premature deaths and premature deaths caused by cancer.
Researchers monitored the long-term health of 74,563 female registered nurses and 39,501 male health professionals in the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, respectively. The participants with no history of serious health problems provided health and lifestyle updates every two years and through food questionnaires, every four years whenever they were required to do so. Diet quality of the participants was assessed using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI) score.
Through the observation of 48,193 premature deaths for 34 years, of which 13,557 were due to cancer, 11,416 from cardiovascular diseases, 3,926 related to respiratory issues, and 6343 terminations related to the neurodegenerative diseases.Participants with the highest intake of ultra-processed foods (average 7 servings per day) had a 4% higher risk of total deaths and a 9% higher risk of deaths from various causes, including an 8% higher risk of neurodegenerative deaths, compared to those with the lowest intake (average 3 servings per day).
The connection between consuming ultra-processed foods and mortality also differed across food categories. The biggest association was between the RTE meats, poultry, and seafood, followed by sugary beverages, dairy desserts, and breakfast products which were the second, third, fourth respectively. Foods that are highly processed in that order for dietary quality, they’ve turned to be less significant in their impact on long-term health. According to the researchers, diet quality is more of a determinant of the health outcomes. As this research is observational it cannot imply correlation, but just association.
The authors report that there are limitations with the ultra processed food classification system and also the fact that foods can be mis-classified. But despite all these possibilities, the size of the study, the length of the follow-up, and the detailed measures contribute to strengthening the result as it is considered. They advise against consuming some ultra-processed foods for a long-term healthy diet but ongoing research with decisive food sorting and evaluating the results in other populations is needed.
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