Ultra-processed foods ‘boost risk of early death’ - find out which ones you really should avoid
9 May 2024, 10:22
Some types of ultra-processed food products can raise the risk of dying early, according to a major new study.
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Researchers at Harvard University tracked 115,000 healthy US adults over the course of three decades. They found a link between eating ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and the risk of dying.
The most harmful diets contain high amounts of ready-made processed meat and fish products. These diets increased the risk of death by 13 per cent.
Food in this category includes items like shop-bought sausages, burgers, fish fingers, chicken nuggets and turkey twizzlers.
The study categorised participants into four groups based on how many UPFs they consume.
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It found that those who ate the most ultra-processed foods overall were 4 per cent more likely to die than those who ate the least.
This group ate on average seven servings of ultra-processed food a day, compared to three servings a day for the least.
One serving equates to a bowl of breakfast cereal, a can of fizzy drink, a rasher of bacon or a slice of bread.
Ready meals, fizzy drinks and ice creams were found to be the foods that tend to pose the greatest danger to human health.
The elevated risk of death from UPFs was not tied to a specific cause of death. The elevated risk, which worked out as an extra 64 deaths per 100,000 people, was seen for deaths from all causes.
The risk rose to 13 per cent for some types of food.
The researchers who conducted the study wrote in the British Medical Journal: “The findings provide support for limiting consumption of certain types of ultra-processed food for long term health.”
Duane Mellor, a dietitian and spokesman for the British Dietetic Association, said the new study “suggests that not all groups of ultra-processed foods are associated with the same health risks, with sugar and artificially sweetened drinks and processed meats being most clearly associated with risk of an early death”.
Gunter Kuhnle, a professor of nutrition at the University of Reading, said: “We know from previous studies and this one that there is plenty of evidence for limiting foods high in saturated fat, salt and sugar — which some ultra-processed foods tend to be high in.
“Public health policy should be informed by evidence, and there is very good evidence about the health effects of foods based on their composition — which is largely confirmed by this study. In contrast, there is still virtually no robust evidence for an effect of ‘ultra-processing’ specifically on health.”
