Eating higher levels of ultraprocessed foods may reduce life expectancy by more than 10%, according to a new unpublished study involving over 500,000 people that researchers tracked for nearly three decades.
The risk increased to 15% for men and 14% for women after the data was adjusted and separated by sex, said the study’s lead author, Erikka Loftfield, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, to CNN.
When asked about the consumption of 124 foods, those whose life expectancy was most reduced were those who consumed the most excessively processed beverages.
“Diet sodas were the main contributors to ultraprocessed food consumption. The second were sugary sodas,” Loftfield said.
Refined grains, such as ultraprocessed breads, ranked second in popularity, according to the study.
The researchers linked dietary data to mortality rates over the next 20 to 30 years. Compared to those in the bottom 10% of ultraprocessed food consumption, those who consumed the most excessively processed foods were more likely to die from heart disease or diabetes, according to the study. However, unlike other studies, the investigators found no increase in cancer deaths.
Some ultraprocessed foods pose more risks than others, Loftfield said: “Highly processed meats and sodas were some of the subgroups of ultraprocessed foods most strongly associated with mortality risk.”
Diet beverages are considered ultraprocessed foods because they contain artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, potassium acesulfame, and stevia, as well as additional additives not found in whole foods. Diet beverages have been associated with an increased risk of early death from cardiovascular diseases, as well as the onset of dementia, type 2 diabetes, obesity, stroke, and metabolic syndrome, which can lead to heart disease and diabetes.
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines already recommend limiting sugary beverages, which have been linked to premature death and the development of chronic diseases. A March 2019 study found that women who consumed more than two servings per day of sugary drinks – defined as a standard glass, bottle, or can – had a 63% higher risk of premature death compared to women who drank less than once a month. Men who did the same had a 29% increase in risk.
Processed meats like bacon, hot dogs, sausages, ham, canned meat, jerky, and cold cuts are also not recommended; studies have linked red and processed meats to bowel and stomach cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and premature death from any cause.
The study found that people who consumed more ultraprocessed foods were younger and heavier and had a generally poorer quality diet than those who ate less ultraprocessed foods. However, the increased health risk cannot be explained by these differences, as even people with normal weight and better diets also face some risk of early death due to ultraprocessed foods, the study concluded.
The production of ultraprocessed foods has exploded since the mid-1990s, with estimates that nearly 60% of the average American’s daily calories come from ultraprocessed foods. This is not surprising, considering that up to 70% of the foods in any supermarket may be ultraprocessed.
Source: CNN