Ultra-Processed Foods May Shorten Your Life: Study

Eating higher levels of ultra-processed food may shorten lifespans by more than 10%, according to a new, unpublished study of over 500,000 people whom researchers followed for nearly three decades, Sandee LaMotte reported for CNN.

Studies have linked red and processed meats to bowel and stomach cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and early death from any cause.

The risk went up to 15% for men and 14% for women once the data were adjusted, said study lead author Erikka Loftfield, an investigator at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Asked about their consumption of 124 foods, people in the top 90th percentile of ultra-processed food consumption said overly processed drinks topped their list.

“This is one more large, long-duration cohort study confirming the association between UPF (ultra-processed food) intake and all-cause mortality, particularly from cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes,” said Carlos Monteiro, emeritus professor of nutrition and public health at Brazil’s University of São Paulo, in an email.

The study, presented recently at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Chicago, analyzed dietary data gathered in 1995 from nearly 541,000 Americans ages 50 to 71 who were participating in the US National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.

Researchers linked the dietary data to death rates over the next 20 to 30 years.

Compared with those in the bottom 10% of ultra-processed food consumption, people who ate the most overly processed food were more likely to die from heart disease or diabetes.

Processed meats such as bacon, hot dogs, sausages, ham, corned beef, jerky, and deli meats are also not recommended; studies have linked red and processed meats to bowel and stomach cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and early death from any cause.