[[link removed]]

ULTRA-PROCESSED FOOD LINKED TO 32 HARMFUL EFFECTS TO HEALTH, REVIEW
FINDS  
[[link removed]]


 

Andrew Gregory
February 28, 2024
The Guardian
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ World’s largest review finds direct associations with higher
risks of cancer, heart disease and early death _

Ultra-processed foods undergo multiple industrial processes and often
contain colours, emulsifiers, flavours and other additives.,
Photograph: MBI/Alamy

 

Ultra-processed food (UPF) is directly linked to 32 harmful effects to
health, including a higher risk of heart disease, cancer, type 2
diabetes, adverse mental health and early death, according to the
world’s largest review of its kind.

The findings from the first comprehensive umbrella review of evidence
come amid rapidly rising global consumption of UPF such as cereals,
protein bars, fizzy drinks, ready meals and fast food.

In the UK and US, more than half the average diet now consists of
ultra-processed food. For some, especially people who are younger,
poorer or from disadvantaged areas, a diet comprising as much as 80%
UPF is typical.

The findings published in the BMJ
[[link removed]] suggest diets high
in UPF may be harmful to many elements of health. The results of the
review involving almost 10 million people underscored a need for
measures to target and reduce exposure to UPF, the researchers said.

The review involved experts from a number of leading institutions,
including Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
[[link removed]] in the US, the
University of Sydney and Sorbonne University in France.

Writing in the BMJ, they concluded: “Overall, direct associations
were found between exposure to ultra-processed foods and 32 health
parameters spanning mortality, cancer, and mental, respiratory,
cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and metabolic health outcomes.”

They added: “Greater exposure to ultra-processed food was associated
with a higher risk of adverse health outcomes, especially
cardiometabolic, common mental disorders and mortality outcomes.

“These findings provide a rationale to develop and evaluate the
effectiveness of using population-based and public-health measures to
target and reduce dietary exposure to ultra-processed foods for
improved human health.”

Ultra-processed foods, including packaged baked goods and snacks,
fizzy drinks, sugary cereals, and ready-to-eat or ready meals, undergo
multiple industrial processes and often contain colours, emulsifiers,
flavours and other additives. These products also tend to be high in
added sugar, fat, and/or salt, but are low in vitamins and fibre.

Previous studies have linked UPF to poor health, but no comprehensive
review had yet provided a broad assessment of the evidence in this
area.

To bridge this gap, researchers carried out an umbrella review – a
high-level evidence summary – of 45 distinct pooled meta-analyses
from 14 review articles associating UPF with adverse health outcomes.

The review articles were all published in the past three years and
involved 9.9 million people. None were funded by companies involved in
the production of UPF.

Estimates of exposure to ultra-processed foods were obtained from a
combination of food frequency questionnaires, 24-hour dietary recalls,
and dietary history and were measured as higher versus lower
consumption, additional servings per day, or a 10% increment.

The researchers graded the evidence as convincing, highly suggestive,
suggestive, weak, or no evidence. They also assessed the quality of
evidence as high, moderate, low, or very low.

Overall, the results show that higher exposure to UPF was consistently
associated with an increased risk of 32 adverse health outcomes, The
BMJ reported.

Convincing evidence showed that higher UPF intake was associated with
about a 50% increased risk of cardiovascular disease-related death, a
48 to 53% higher risk of anxiety and common mental disorders, and a
12% greater risk of type 2 diabetes.

Highly suggestive evidence also indicated that higher PF intake was
associated with a 21% greater risk of death from any cause, a 40 to
66% increased risk of heart disease related death, obesity, type 2
diabetes and sleep problems, and a 22% increased risk of depression.

There was also evidence for associations between UPF and asthma,
gastrointestinal health, some cancers and cardiometabolic risk
factors, such as high blood fats and low levels of ‘good’
cholesterol, although the researchers cautioned the evidence for these
links remains limited.

The researchers acknowledged several limitations to the umbrella
review, including that they couldn’t rule out the possibility that
other unmeasured factors and variations in assessing UPF intake may
have influenced their results.

Some experts not involved in the research also highlighted that much
of the research included in the umbrella review was weak and also
cautioned that the findings do not prove cause and effect.

However, Dr Chris van Tulleken, an associate professor at University
College London and one of the world’s leading UPF experts, said the
findings were “entirely consistent” with a now “enormous number
of independent studies which clearly link a diet high in UPF to
multiple damaging health outcomes including early death”.

“We have good understanding of the mechanisms by which these foods
drive harm,” he added. “In part it is because of their poor
nutritional profile – they are often high in saturated fat, salt and
free sugar.

But the way they are processed is also important – they’re
engineered and marketed in ways which drive excess consumption – for
example they are typically soft and energy dense and aggressively
marketed usually to disadvantaged communities.”

In a linked editorial [[link removed]],
academics from Brazil said UPFs were “often chemically manipulated
cheap ingredients” and “made palatable and attractive by using
combinations of flavours, colours, emulsifiers, thickeners and other
additives”.

They added: “It is now time for UN agencies, with member states, to
develop and implement a framework convention on ultra-processed foods
analogous to the framework on tobacco.”

Meanwhile, a separate study published in the Lancet Public Health
[[link removed](23)00326-2/fulltext] suggested
that more than 9,000 heart disease-related deaths could be prevented
in England over the next two decades if all restaurants, fast food
outlets, cafes, pubs and takeaways put calories on their menus.

_Andrew Gregory is the Guardian's health editor.
Twitter @andrewgregory [[link removed]]._

* Ultra Processed Food
[[link removed]]
* health
[[link removed]]
* nutrition
[[link removed]]
* disease
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]