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“Our study showed relatively consistent trends in the association between increased intake of ultra-processed foods and several adverse health outcomes,” said the researchers at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. said Dr. Melissa Lane, postdoctoral fellow and professor and lead author.
Dr Lane said this review highlights the need for public health strategies to reduce the amount of ultra-processed foods people eat, and to understand how ultra-processed foods can negatively impact health. Both emphasize the need for further research.
Ultra-processed foods may make up nearly 60% of Western diets
Ultra-processed foods include mass-produced products that require industrial formulations, such as sugar-sweetened beverages, packaged baked goods and snacks, sugar-sweetened cereals, and ready-to-eat foods and microwaveable products. They often have added artificial colors and flavors, high levels of added sugar, fat, and salt, but little nutrients, vitamins, or fiber.
For people in wealthy countries, ultra-processed foods can account for up to 58 percent of the calories consumed each day, researchers say.
There have been many studies that have investigated how highly processed foods affect health, but this study examines all the evidence that has accumulated since 2009, when the concept of ultra-processed foods was introduced into research. This is the first comprehensive survey conducted. The most recent comprehensive review included 45 separate meta-analyses pooled from 14 review articles.
All review articles were published in the past three years and involved approximately 10 million participants. None of the companies received funding from companies involved in the production of ultra-processed foods.
All analyzes included observational studies rather than randomized controlled studies. That means the researchers didn’t design a trial in which some people ate ultra-processed foods and compared them to people who didn’t. Rather, studies typically recorded estimates of exposure to ultra-processed foods from a combination of food frequency questionnaires, 24-hour dietary recalls, and dietary history. Participants were then grouped into high and low intakes, additional intakes per day, or 10 percent increases.
The researchers graded the included studies as convincing, highly suggestive, suggestive, weak, or no evidence. We also rated the quality of evidence for each pooled analysis as high, moderate, low, or very low using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Evaluation, Development, and Evaluation) system. According to the GRADE approach, all observational studies are initially considered to be of low quality.
Ultra-processed foods linked to increased risk of heart disease and anxiety
The authors say there is “compelling evidence” that high intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with:
- Risk of heart disease-related death increases by nearly 50 percent
- 48-53% higher risk of anxiety and common mental disorders
- 12% increased risk of type 2 diabetes
“Highly suggestive” evidence also showed that increased intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with:
- 21% increased risk of death from any cause
- 40 to 66 percent increased risk of heart disease-related death, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and sleep problems
- 22% increased risk of depression
Evidence of an association between exposure to ultra-processed foods and asthma, gastrointestinal health, some cancers, and cardiometabolic risk factors (such as high blood fats and low levels of “good” cholesterol) remains limited. However, further research is needed in these areas. writers.
“This analysis is a comprehensive review, so it is essentially an attempt to summarize the currently available data. A strict interpretation of quality of evidence (GRADE) data suggests that most associations are of low quality or very “This low rating suggests that there is very limited evidence of a link between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and health,” says Gunther Kuhnle. , a professor and researcher in the School of Food and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Reading, UK, was not involved in the study.
Although the authors don’t seem to agree with this and don’t explain why, they think these connections are relevant enough to be discussed, Dr. Kuhnle says. “However, they agree that this study cannot provide any information regarding causation,” he added.
Why are most nutritional studies observational?
The researchers noted that such reviews “can only provide a high-level overview” and that other unmeasured factors and variations in assessing ultra-processed food intake may have influenced the results. It is acknowledged that there is.
However, the authors write that the fact that the included analyzes were observational does not negate a potential association, especially as more data becomes available in the future. They also point to the fact that 93 percent of the pooled analyzes found very similar results regarding the increased risk reported in the reviews.
“These findings support urgent mechanistic research and public health action to target and minimize consumption of ultra-processed foods to improve population health,” the authors concluded. ing.
Why are ultra-processed foods bad for you?
They are formulated with cheap, often chemically manipulated ingredients such as modified starches, sugars, oils, fats, and protein isolates, and there is “no reason to believe that humans can fully adapt to these products.” ” wrote Dr. Monterio.
Do the potential health risks posed by ultra-processed foods go beyond their association with overweight and obesity, which are known to increase the risk of many chronic diseases?
Lane says obesity is just one of the harmful consequences of a diet high in ultra-processed foods. “While high BMI may be one of the upstream biological or physical mechanisms linking a diet high in ultra-processed foods to other health outcomes, it may also be linked to an unhealthy diet and psychological conditions, such as depression. “We know that the relationship between weight and health outcomes doesn’t seem to be fully operational,” she says. Lane says more research is needed into the effects these types of foods have on our body’s entire system, including the immune system and gut microbiome.
More research needed to understand health risks posed by ultra-processed foods
“What we need now is to understand how ultra-processed foods are associated with chronic diet-related diseases, that is, what physiological processes are affected, and how ultra-processed foods are associated with poor health. “This is a test to improve our understanding of what exactly the properties of processed foods are. Trials are like the missing pieces of the puzzle that need to be filled in to strengthen the evidence base,” Lane said. say.
Kuhnle believes there is a need to better understand the potential underlying mechanisms. “We will need to identify which specific food groups, beyond their composition, are associated with poor health,” he says.
For example, he asks, does supermarket bread increase the risk of disease compared to homemade bread? “We also need a clearer definition of the term ‘ultra-processing,'” he says Kuhnle.
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