Eating more ultraprocessed foods increases the risk of developing and dying from cancer, especially ovarian cancer, according to a new study involving over 197,000 people in the UK.
Ultraprocessed foods include pre-packaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza, and ready meals, as well as hot dogs, sausages, chips, soft drinks, store-bought cookies, cakes, sweets, ice creams, among others.
“Ultraprocessed foods are produced with industrially derived ingredients and often use food additives to adjust color, flavor, consistency, texture, or extend shelf life,” said one of the study’s authors, Dr. Kiara Chang, from the National Institute for Health and Care Research at the Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, in a statement.
“Our bodies may not react the same way to these ultraprocessed ingredients and additives as they do to fresh and minimally processed nutritious foods,” Chang said.
However, people who eat more ultraprocessed foods also tend to consume fewer vegetables and other foods associated with a healthy dietary pattern. This may mean that it is not a specific effect of the ultraprocessed foods themselves, but rather a reflection of the impact of lower intake of healthier foods.
The study, published on Tuesday (31) in the journal eClinicalMedicine, analyzed the association between ultraprocessed food intake and 34 different types of cancer over a 10-year period.
Researchers examined dietary habits of 197,426 people who were part of the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database.
Each 10% increase in ultraprocessed food consumption was associated with a 2% increase in the development of any type of cancer and a 19% increase in the risk of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Cancer deaths also increased, according to the study. For each additional 10% increase in ultraprocessed food consumption, the risk of dying from any type of cancer increased by 6%, while the risk of dying from ovarian cancer increased by 30%.
This is not the first time a study has linked ultraprocessed food intake to higher cancer incidence.
A 2022 study examined the diets of over 200,000 men and women in the United States for up to 28 years and found a link between ultraprocessed foods and colorectal cancer – the third most diagnosed cancer in the United States.
Additionally, there are still hundreds of studies linking ultraprocessed foods to obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and overall mortality.
Clearly, more research is needed to confirm this link and understand the best public health strategies to reduce the widespread presence and harm of ultraprocessed foods in our diet. In the meantime, the best approach is to maintain a balanced diet and avoid excessive consumption of ultraprocessed foods.
Source: CNN