Packaged snacks, soft drinks and ready-made meals are convenient and tempting, with attractive packaging and consistent flavors. However, a new study published this week in the BMJ journal has analyzed data linking these treats with negative health outcomes and even death.
“This umbrella review reports a higher risk of adverse health outcomes associated with ultra-processed food exposure,” said the study authors. “The strongest available evidence pertained to direct associations between greater exposure to ultra-processed foods and higher risks of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease related mortality, common mental disorder outcomes, overweight and obesity, and type 2 diabetes.”
A food classification system called ‘NOVA’ has defined ultra-processed foods as “industrial formulations generated through compounds extracted, derived or synthesized from food or food substrates, containing five or more ingredients and artificial additives, with no wholefood components.”
According to the study, the share of dietary intake from processed foods is 58%. Australia also has a high percentage at 42%, while South Korea has 25% and Italy has 10%. Key examples of ultra-processed foods include mass produced breads, frozen foods and fast food.
“The shift from unprocessed and minimally processed foods to ultra-processed foods and their subsequent increasing contribution to global dietary patterns in recent years have been attributed to key drivers including behavioral mechanisms, food environments, and commercial influences on food choices,” the study said.
To evaluate existing data on the health impact of ultra-processed foods, the researchers found data in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, as well as manual searches of reference lists from 2009 to June 2023. They found 45 distinct analyses, with nearly 10 million participants and spanning seven health parameters.
“One meta-analysis study specifically pooled heart disease related deaths, such as ischaemic heart disease related mortality and cerebrovascular disease related mortality, with each 10% increase in total ultra-processed food exposure,” said the researchers.
Wolfgang Marx, a senior research fellow at the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University in Geelong, Australia and senior author of the paper, said in an email cited by CNN that there was consistent evidence linking ultra-processed food to negative health outcomes.
Overall, the data reviewed for the study revealed that greater exposure to ultra-processed food is associated with a higher risk of cardiometabolic, common mental disorder, and mortality outcomes. Researchers said that more research is required regarding the aspects of dietary patterns that include ultra-processed foods that link them to these negative impacts.
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“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,” said the study. “They also inform and provide support for urgent mechanistic research.”
For those interested in limiting their intake of ultra-processed foods, Harvard Health Publishing released a helpful chart in 2020 of minimally processed, processed and ultra-processed options.
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