2023-11-16 09:51:39
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – A new study has found that eating larger amounts of ultra-processed foods increases the risk of being diagnosed with concurrent diseases, or developing multiple chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
“The important finding of this large study is that eating more ultra-processed foods, particularly from animal products and sweetened beverages, was associated with increased “The risk of developing cancer, along with another disease such as stroke or diabetes.”
Tom Sanders, emeritus professor of nutrition and dietetics at King’s College London, who was not involved in the study, commented that the increased risk was modest.
He added in a statement: “This study indicates a 9% increased risk of comorbidities associated with increased intake of ultra-processed foods.”
He continued: “Food intake was measured through a questionnaire that was conducted a long time ago. This is important because dietary patterns have changed significantly in the past 25 years, with more eating out of the home and purchasing more prepared foods.”
Nutrition researcher Ian Johnson, an honorary fellow at the Quadram Institute of Biosciences in Norwich, UK, who was not involved in the study, said that while the study might not conclusively prove that ultra-processed foods are the direct cause of co-occurring diseases, it did show a significant amount of evidence. Other research suggests a link between some ultra-processed foods (UPF) and health damage.
“Taking all other scientific evidence, it is possible that some types of UPF increase the risk of subsequent disease, either because they are directly harmful, or because they take the place of healthy foods such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and olive oil,” Johnson said in a statement. And others.”
Co-author Heinz Friesling, a nutritional and metabolic scientist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, noted in a statement that the study’s findings are concerning because ultra-processed foods in Europe make up “more than half of our daily food consumption.” A study conducted in the United States in 2019 estimated that regarding 71% of the food supply may be highly processed.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, ultra-processed foods contain ingredients that are “never or rarely used in kitchens, or classes of additives whose function is to make the final product palatable or more attractive.”
Credit: bit245/iStockphoto/Getty Images
The list of additives includes preservatives to combat mold and bacteria, emulsifiers to prevent separation of incompatible ingredients, artificial colorings and dyes, anti-foaming agents, the addition or alteration of sugar, salt and fats designed to make food more attractive, and others.
Are all ultra-processed foods harmful?
The study, published in The Lancet on Monday, collected nutritional information from 266,666 men and women from seven European countries between 1992 and 2000. The participants were followed for 11 years to see who developed various chronic diseases, including cancer.
At the start of the study, each person was asked to recall what they had eaten in the past 12 months, and researchers classified foods according to the NOVA classification system, which looks beyond nutrients, to how foods are made.
“To estimate this, researchers had to break down foods into different components in order to try to figure out whether they were ultra-processed or not,” said Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and senior teaching fellow at Aston Medical School in Birmingham, UK, who was not involved in the study.
“This approach, especially since the food data is up to 30 years old, may make this type of interpretation of historical data using a modern definition vulnerable to error,” Mellor explained in a statement.
When ultra-processed foods were examined by subgroups, not all of them appeared to be associated with the development of concurrent, chronic diseases, said lead author Reynalda Córdova, a postdoctoral student in pharmaceutical, nutritional and sports sciences at the University of Vienna.
“While certain groups, such as animal products, artificially sweetened beverages, and sugar-sweetened beverages, were associated with increased risk, others, such as ultra-processed breads and cereals, or alternative plant products, showed no association with risk,” Cordova added.
She noted, “Our study confirms that it is not necessary to completely avoid ultra-processed foods. Instead, their consumption should be limited, and preference should be given to fresh or minimally processed foods.”
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