Give ready meals the chop for a longer life
‘Ultra-processed’ foods such as white bread and packaged snacks found to increase risk of early death
EATING white bread and ready meals could be killing us, according to the first major study linking “ultra-processed” food with early death.
The study, led by Paris-sorbonne University, tracked the diets and subsequent mortality of 44,451 French men and women, with an average age of 57, and found that every 10 per cent increase in intake of “ultra-processed food” was linked to a 14 per cent increased risk of death within the next eight years.
Participants were asked to keep 24hour dietary records, enabling researchers to measure their intake of more than 3,000 different food items, which were classified into four groups depending on their level of processing.
Overall, “ultra-processed” foods were found to account for 29 per cent of their diet, the study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, found. Separate estimates suggest the British diet is far more reliant on highly processed fare, making up around half of foods consumed. Such meals often have a higher content of total fat, saturated fat and added sugar and salt along with a lower fibre and vitamin density.
Dr Laure Schnabel, a nutritional epidemiologist at Paris-sorbonne University, said: “Ultra-processed foods contain multiple ingredients. They are usually ready to heat and eat, affordable, and hyper-palatable. Examples include mass-produced and packaged snacks, sugary drinks, breads, confectioneries, ready-made meals and processed meats.” Such foods can also contain additives such as sodium nitrite and titanium oxide, linked to high blood pressure and cancer.
Research has also suggested that artificial sweeteners may alter gut bacteria – increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases that are major causes of premature mortality.
Dr Schnabel said: “Nutritional characteristics of ultra-processed foods could partly explain the development of non-communicable chronic diseases among those who consume them.
“Ultra-processed foods are generally energy dense, rich in refined carbohydrates, saturated fats and salt, and contain low dietary fibre. These features have been associated with several noncommunicable diseases that are the leading causes of mortality.
“Beyond their nutritional aspects, ultra-processed foods have specific characteristics, owing to the industrial processes they undergo. Thus, concern is rising about the potential harmful health consequences of newly formed contaminants or food additives.”
Prof Nita Forouhi, from the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, said: “The case against highly processed foods is mounting .”
She said more evidence was needed to confirm the findings, but stressed “we would ignore these findings at public health’s peril”.
Dr Ian Johnson, nutrition researcher and emeritus fellow at the Quadram Institute Bioscience, said the findings were statistically significant.
But he said the observational study could not prove that the increased mortality rates were caused by the intake of processed foods, and other lifestyle factors like exercise or smoking had to be fully separated out.