Ultraprocessed foods may increase death risk

Log in with your Medical News Today account to create or edit your custom homepage, catch-up on your opinions notifications and set your newsletter preferences.Sign up for a free Medical News Today account to customize your medical and health news experiences.There has never been a closer eye watching the average diet of people in the United States than there is today.Rising obesity and diabetes rates have spurred furious research into the exact role of the "Western diet."We already know that high levels of sugar and fat can have a detrimental impact on various systems of the body.However, the full scale of the damage is only coming into focus now.As part of this new push to examine the impacts of diet on health and longevity, a group of French scientists focused on ultraprocessed foods.The term "ultraprocessed" refers to food products that manufacturers have put through industrial processes and contain a range of ingredients. In total, they followed 44,551 individuals aged 45 or older for an average of 7.1 years.Each volunteer completed a web-based form that asked about their food intake, and they provided information about their lifestyle, weight, height, levels of physical activity, and socioeconomic status.The scientists saw that consuming higher levels of ultraprocessed foods was associated with being younger, earning less, having a lower level of education, living alone, exercising less, and having a higher body mass index (BMI).As they expected, even after adjusting for a range of factors, higher levels of ultraprocessed foods in the diet were associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality.Overall, a 10 percent increase in the amount of ultraprocessed food consumed equated to a 14 percent increase in mortality risk.The authors conclude:"Findings from this prospective study of a large French cohort suggest for the first time, to our knowledge, that an increased proportion of ultraprocessed foods in the diet is associated with a higher risk of overall mortality."The scientists believe that the negative impact of ultraprocessed food on longevity is likely due to the factors mentioned above — namely, high sodium, fat, sugar, and salt content, low fiber, and a range of artificial additives.These additives commonly include emulsifiers, which, according to some studies, might be linked with metabolic syndrome and obesity.Also, there may be a role for chemicals that are produced during the manufacture of these foods.