THE PROCESSED FOOD TIMEBOMB IS TICKING

Factory-made meals can knock years off our lives, research finds

EATING ‘ultra-processed’ food significantly raises the risk of an early death, new research suggests.

A major study has found that those who eat a lot of industrially produced food – such as ready meals, sugary cereals and fizzy drinks – could be cutting years from their lives.

Ultra-processed food is defined as anything involving an industrial procedure which could not be made in a home kitchen. Such meals are often packed with chemicals with little resemblance to the ingredients that are the basis of a home-cooked meal.

The major French study of nearly 45,000 people concludes that the more ultra-processed food someone eats, the higher their risk of an early death.

Experts here said the case was mounting against heavily processed food – a risk that is ignored ‘at public health’s peril’.

Scientists believe the problem with these foods – which include some breakfast cereals, sweets, crisps and ready meals – lies partly in the fact they tend to be higher in fat, salt and sugar. They also have less of the fibre that protects against cancer and other diseases.

But the processes and high heat used to make the food, and the artificial chemicals and additives that boost flavours and shelf life, are also thought to contribute to the problem.

The research, led by the Sorbonne University, used food diaries to track the diet of 44,551 French over-45s. They were then monitored for seven years. Some 600 people died in that period – including 219 from cancer and 34 from cardiovascular disease – 1.4% of all participants.

But the scientists, whose findings are published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal, found those whose diets were heavily reliant on processed food were at the greatest risk.

For every 10% increase in ultraprocessed food, they found the risk of death over the next seven years went up 14%. The Sorbonne team have already shown that heavily processed food increases the risk of cancer but this is the first study to show it increases the risk of death from all causes.

The study suggests Irish people are even more at risk – because French consumption of ultraprocessed food is much lower than in Ireland.

Almost half of all food bought by families in Ireland is now ‘ultra-processed’, a major European study previously found.

A total of 45.9% of Irish families’ diets are made up of such foods.

Examples of some of these products include: sugary cereals, industrially made breads, ready meals, and reconstituted meats, according to findings published last year in the Journal of Public Health Nutrition, which surveyed 19 European countries.

The latest French study said processed food is likely to be a major cause of the additional deaths. But they said the additional chemicals and the high heat involved in the manufacturing process could also be to blame, pointing out that other studies had documented the cancer link to chemicals formed when ‘foods that have undergone high-temperature processing’.

Higher in fat, salt and sugar ‘46% of us eat such foods’