Numerous studies have connected processed meals to a variety of health hazards, including as cancer, obesity, and early mortality.
The most recent research on ultra-processed foods, which include frozen pizza, hot dogs, and potato chips, suggests that eating too many unhealthy snacks raises the risk of heart disease and colon and rectal cancer in both men and women as well as colon and rectal cancer in males.
Adult eating patterns in the US and Italy were examined by two different study teams. The American research, which was published on August 31 in the British Medical Journal, focused on the connection between highly processed meals and colon cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, eating highly processed meats like beef jerky and cold cuts has long been associated with bowel malignancies. According to a new research, consuming more ultra-processed meals increases the risk for males.
The Italian researchers studied consumption of “nutrient-poor foods” by more than 22,000 participants over a five-year period in addition to tracking intake of processed meals. Lead researcher Marialaura Bonaccio told CNN that their study, which was also published in the BMJ, showed that ultra-processed meals were “paramount to define the risk of death.”
Ultra-processed foods include fruit juice and bread
Processed foods include everything from fruit juice to store-bought bread, which are full of added sugar, salt, and preservatives to extend their shelf life. These foods might be considered unhealthy because of their high sugar or trans fats contents, but ultra-processed foods have reached another level of poor nutrition.
Ultra-processed foods contain more additives and “food substances” than whole, naturally-occurring ingredients — making them more processed than food, according to a 2019 commentary in the journal Public Health Nutrition.
Eating lots of ultra-processed foods has not only been linked to a risk of early death, but also to worse mental health, including greater odds of developing anxiety or depression, according to a study published in Nutrients this July.
Diet affects lifespan
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The Italian study found that people who ate ultra-processed foods, as well as those whose diets were classified as “nutrient-poor,” had a greater risk of early death and chronic disease. This was especially true for cardiovascular disease, echoing past studies linking ultra-processed foods to heart disease risk.
In the breakdown of processed and non-nutritious foods, there was a massive overlap: more than 80% of the foods classified as “nutrient-poor” were also ultra-processed.
This would suggest that there is something added to these foods that affects health outcomes. Scientists have not yet determined whether specific food groups within the ultra-processed category — such as lunch meats or soft drinks — are associated with different levels of risk.
The US study found that men who scored in the top fifth of ultra-processed food consumption had a 29% higher risk of developing colorectal cancer compared to those with the lowest processed food intake. However, the authors noticed, men might be more likely to consume processed meats, which could in turn reveal a more specific association.