Ultra-processed food increases risk of early death, international study finds
Ultra-processed food increases risk of early death, international study finds
About 14% of premature deaths in England attributable to unhealthy food, the most among surveyed countries
Consuming large amounts of ultra-processed food (UPF) increases the risk of an early death, according to a international study that has reignited calls for a crackdown on UPF.
Each 10% extra intake of UPF, such as bread, cakes and ready meals, increases someone’s risk of dying before they reach 75 by 3%, according to research in countries including the US and England.
UPF is so damaging to health that it is implicated in as many as one in seven of all premature deaths that occur in some countries, according to a paper in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
They are associated with 124,107 early deaths in the US a year and 17,781 deaths every year in England, the review of dietary and mortality data from eight countries found.
I feel like we’ve known this for a very long time
We've known about climate change for a long time too. "We" not all of us.
True
The NOVA classifications are difficult to work with, and I think the trend of certain nutrition scientists (and the media that reports on those scientists' work) have completely over-weighted the value of the "ultra processed" category.
The typical whole grain, multigrain bread sold at the store qualifies as ultra-processed, in large part because whole grain flour is harder to shape into loaves than white flour, and manufacturers add things like gluten to the dough. Gluten, of course, already "naturally" exists in any wheat bread, so it's not exactly a harmful ingredient. But that additive tips the loaf of bread into ultra processed (or UPF or NOVA category 4), same as Doritos.
But whole grain bread isn't as bad for you as Doritos or Coca Cola. So why do these studies treat them as the same? And whole grain factory bread is almost certainly better for you than the local bakery's white bread (merely processed food or NOVA category 3), made from industrially produced white flour, with the germ and bran removed during milling. Or industrially produced potato chips, which are usually considered simply processed foods in category 3 when not flavored with anything other than salt, which certainly aren't more nutritious or healthier than that whole wheat bread or pasta.
If specific ingredients are a problem, we should study those ingredients. If specific combinations or characteristics are a problem, we should study those combinations. Don't throw out the baby (healthy ultra processed foods) with the bathwater (unhealthy ultra processed foods).
And I'm not even going to get into how the system is fundamentally unsuited for evaluating fermented, aged, or pickled foods, especially dairy.
Some bread is treated with stuff one would ordinarily not want to eat.
So why not focus on the foods containing that stuff, rather than the superficial resemblance of all foods that kinda look like the foods that contain that stuff?
Let's say you have a problem with potassium bromate, a dough additive linked to cancer that remains legal in U.S. bread but is banned in places like Canada, the UK, the EU.
So let's have that conversation about bromate! Let's not lump all industrially produced breads into that category, even in countries where bromate has been banned.
The fuck does "ultra processed food" mean? Isnt upf defined by it harming you? Its like saying weapons harm you when weapon is the name for something that is used to harm others.
Not even. The NOVA system has been tested and doesn't function as a system of classification. Experts cannot consistently classify things into UPF/not UPF. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41430-022-01099-1
So it's more like "there's this food and it's bad for you but idk what it is :/"
The infuriating thing is that I believe that nutrition is more than just a linear addition of all the constituent ingredients (kinda the default view of nutrition science up through the 90's), but addressing the shortcomings of that overly simple model shouldn't mean making an even more simple model.
NOVA classification is the wrong answer to a legitimate problem.
A processed food would be like roasted nuts, a loaf of real bread, cheese, etc. an ultra processed food is anything that's been broken down into individual constituents like corn syrup, maltodextrin, sugar, white flour, etc then amalgamated back together again. But I certainly see what you mean.
It should be more appropriately labeled Junk Food. Everyone's trying to make it sound official and it just ends up more vague.
If we were eating Seafood, Chicken, Beef, Vegatables, Salads and Whole Grains, we'd live longer.
In the end, we need to stay away from non-naturally occurring carbs and refrain from mixing naturally occurring carbs with tons of fat/salt to make them more palatable.
Muffins, Doughnuts, French Toast, Submarine Sandwiches, Pizza, Pasta, all have to be super portion controlled, we we just don't seem to have that kind of willpower.
Yeah, I dunno. I wish they would just say sugar or something.
It's astonishing to me that scientists are using such unscientific terms like "ultra processed food". What is it about these foods that is unhealthy?
It's like saying "sports are dangerous" while including football and golf in your definition.
Scientists only use terms like ultra processed food after defining them in their scientific papers. The problem here is that the media find it difficult to write a short article for the general audience if they have to define things scientifically.
What specifically is bad about UPF foods is still being researched. A few leading ideas are:
- Very little fibre
- Starches are all immediately accessible to digestion and so blood glucose spikes much more than for the non-UPF equivalent
- UPF foods are soft and dry (so weigh less) making it very easy to eat a lot very fast, so you eat too many calories.
- Relatively high in salt and sugar
- Use of emulsifiers. These may change your gut microbiota and also make your gut more leaky causing inflammation
- Use of preservatives and artificial colours
- Frequently have a lot of oil
Low fibre, emulsifiers and preservatives, while lacking variety of phytochemicals found in fresh food is known to change your gut health. People on UPF diets tend to eat more and have higher blood glucose spikes leading to heart disease and diabetes.
Altogether this is a recipe for a shorter, less healthy life
I think there's a bit of a political drive to try to label chronic conditions as "lifestyle" diseases tbh, hence the loose definitions.
I just had the same thought as I was formulating a different comment here.
There is no single definition of ultra-processed foods, but in general they contain ingredients not used in home cooking.
Many are chemicals, colourings and sweeteners, used to improve the food's appearance, taste or texture.
Fizzy drinks, sweets and chicken nuggets are all examples. However, they can also include less obvious foods, including some breads, breakfast cereals and yoghurts.
A product containing more than five ingredients is likely to be ultra-processed, according to public health expert Prof Maira Bes-Rastrollo of the University of Navarra in Spain.
Ultra-processed foods are often high in salt, sugar and saturated fats. In the UK, look out for a "traffic light" label on the packaging.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/what_is_ultra-processed_food
Thank you for the details - as you point out this is a functionally useless definition.
It reeks of "You know what I mean - that bad stuff". And that's not a good scientific definition.
A product containing more than five ingredients is likely to be ultra-processed
Curry is "ultra-processed" - you heard it hear first.
Like I said - "Sports are dangerous" is a very bad way to try to categorize risky activity. Golf and football are very different as are Curry and Twizzlers.
In this reply you you talked about "some breads", the OP Post only talks about bread - and that for sure had only ingredients in using at home.
Same for French fries: potato, salt, fat .
I'm with the poor downvoted fellow, I don't understand where the risk comes from when it's described this vague.
Are home made burgers better? Is it the freezing process and I should lower my meal prep? Is it additives?
A product containing more than five ingredients is likely to be ultra-processed
Ugh. No. That amounts to saying "anything that contains five spice is ultra-processed". Why do you hate Chinese cuisine.
The "not used in home cooking" rule of thumb is way better though you can certainly make absolutely filthy dishes at home. Home cooking also uses "chemicals, colouring and sweeteners", and also home cooks care about appearance, taste, and texture.
What I'd actually be interested in is comparing EU vs. US standards UPC. EU products use colourings such as red beet extract, beta-carotene, stabilisers, gelling agents etc. like guar gum or arrowroot, when they use fully synthetic stuff then it's generally something actually found in nature. Companies add ascorbic acid as antioxidant, grandma added a splash of lemon juice, same difference really.
A EU strawberry yoghurt which says "natural aroma" is shoddy, yes, you're getting fewer strawberries and more strawberry aroma produced by fungi, but I'm rather sceptical when it comes to claims that it's less healthy.
"An ultra-processed food (UPF) is a grouping of processed food characterized by relatively involved methods of production. There is no simple definition of UPF, but they are generally understood to be an industrial creation derived from natural food or synthesized from other organic compounds.[1][2] The resulting products are designed to be highly profitable, convenient, and hyperpalatable, often through food additives such as preservatives, colourings, and flavourings.[3] UPFs have often undergone processes such as moulding/extruding, hydrogenation, or frying.[4]" Wikipedia
I don't know why it is not defined as such. It's easy to understand to me anyway. Flour has been ground up by humans for centuries, and has gone through a process, but the end product still at least resembles what you find in nature. Glycerides however, need to be explained and created using chemistry through indusrial processes.
I don't know if I could have picked a better example I am no expert. I'm simply disheartened so many struggle to distinguish between processed and ultra processed.
Olive oil is processed; if then, in an industrial process they extract the glyceride from that process and isolate it to its chemical form, to only then inject it into another food stuff product, that's ultra processed.
Im not that smart, anyone feel free to holler at me for being incorrect. This is my understanding however.
I gave up Ultra-processed foods 15-20 years ago and lost a lot of weight, and maintained that weight loss for years only using the avoidance of ultra-processed foods. Of course when I got slack, I gained again. So to me it seems obvious the harms. However, one could argue injecting vitamin c to a food is healthy, and would be defined as going through ultra process to isolate the vitamin compound.
But there is, to me, something sinister to have food scientists engineer food to be highly palatable and addictive, while also being detrimental to our health. Looking at you hot cheetos.
Each 10% extra intake of UPF, such as bread, cakes and ready meals, increases someone’s risk of dying before they reach 75 by 3%, according to research in countries including the US and England.
Was a bit surprised to see bread there, as it's been a staple of many cultures' cuisines for millennia. Did a quick search, and got some clarity in this list - "mass-produced packaged bread" is UPF, not the stuff you make from scratch or perhaps pick up from the local bakery.
A relief, actually, as I just took a loaf of sourdough out of the oven and was waiting for it to be cool enough to slice into. This article took the shine off the experience for a moment there 😅
I'm sure the actual paper defines this better, but without a definition of what puts something in this category, it's not useful.
Even for bread, is it all bread? Is it added gluten? Is it a specific preservative? Is it only bread with bleached flour?
Even so, mass produced and packaged is not the actual contributor...
Same with prepared food... Costco makes prepared food that is equivalent to what you'd make at home. It's that still bad? If not, what other prepared food is fine?
Even for bread, is it all bread?
It's most bread. There will always be a few outliers, but they're a tiny minority.
Is it added gluten?
Gluten isn't 'added' to bread, it's a naturally occurring component of grains like wheat, rye and barley. Gluten free bread is made from alternative grains that naturally do not contain gluten (sorghum, rice, buckwheat, etc.). Gluten isn't unhealthy unless you have Coeliac disease or a gluten sensitivity/intolerance. It won't factor into UPF status.
Is it a specific preservative?
The ideal bread is preservative free. Mass-produced bread is almost never preservative free, because the time it takes for the bread to be baked, shipped, put on the shelf in a shop, picked up by you and taken home to eat is longer than it takes to go mouldy (particularly if it's in a plastic bag). Hence, they add a preservative to extend the shelf life.
A bakery is less likely to use preservatives, because they bake fresh daily, based on customer demand. Homemade bread also doesn't need preservatives for pretty much the same reason.
No need to demonise preservatives, or split hairs over "better" or "worse" ones, but worth being mindful of the amount you consume.
Is it only bread with bleached flour?
Bleached flour improves performance for baking (making lighter, fluffier loaves with more 'bounce' and chewiness from the gluten), but also strips out a lot of the minerals that are beneficial for your health. Mass-produced bread tends to use bleached flour, because a white and fluffy loaf is more appealling to consumers than a denser and darker one, and the lighter consistency makes it less filling, leading you to consume more of it, which means more money for them. Given the choice between bleached and unbleached flour, choose the latter if you can.
So, yes, 'mass-produced and packaged' does tend to correlate directly with the overall nutritional content.
Costco makes prepared food that is equivalent to what you’d make at home.
I can only speak for myself on this one, but I've never seen a pre-prepared meal at Costco that is the equivalent of what I'd make at home. It tends to be carb, fat and animal protein heavy, and very light on veg. My cooking is the opposite (lots of veg, some complex carbs, not too much fat or animal protein).
Just like the preservatives and bleached flour in bread, companies who mass-produce food are looking to use the cheapest ingredients with the longest shelf life to maximise their profits. Makes good business sense for them, but not good health/nutritional sense for consumers.
Enjoy that sourdough!! I have always wanted to get into baking bread. I will eventually get there someday. The semolina my local bakery makes is 😗🤌 i love bread
Ooh, semolina, nice! Love me some Pane Siciliano... Think you just inspired my next loaf 🤭
(Highly recommend breadmaking as a hobby, if the spirit moves you. Very meditative - particularly the kneading - with bonus baked goods when you're done!)
For example, US research published last year in the BMJ found that people who consume the most UPF have a 4% higher risk of death overall and a 9% greater risk of dying from something other than cancer or heart disease.
If you don't want to die of cancer and heart disease, UPF may be be a good choice.
The 4% greater risk of dying... Does that mean if I have a 10% chance of dying by age 70 it becomes a 14% chance or a 10.4% chance? I believe the latter. But that's a correlation for the people who eat the most UPF. Would have to see how that's controlled for socioeconomic class and access to healthcare.
It’ll be a delicious death. Mmhmm a cupcake death.
We know
The food industry is going to go through the same rebuke that the tobacco industry went through only bigger.
Should go through, but it won’t.
Tobacco? Should have gone through, but it didn't.
What's going to be the upf equivalent of vapes?
Wraps.
Yeah, but it's delicious and makes me feel good and I don't want to be 90 anyway. Wait, smokers say that. Shit.
Bread is UPF???
A bread with only flour, water, salt would be a processed food only as flour is processed.
A bread with 23 items listed in it's ingredients, half of which sound like something you'd hear in chemistry class, is ultra-processed.
This is the correct answer.
Another way to distinguish the good from the bad: Good bread goes stale in a few days, it also is harder to chew. UPF bread will sit in your breadbin for 7 days without noticeable changes and is fluffy and relatively light.
The reason for the fluffiness and the shelf life is all the chemical additives.
You can see why the corporations love UPF bread - and why (if you didn't know the health impact) you might want to buy UPF bread on your weekly shop.
probably depends on the type of bread. sliced bread commonly sold in the uk is certainly UPF
The long game suicide, baby.
"the sky is blue" according to new report!
Just when I discovered frozen meals... 😟
There are different levels of processed food. A meal cooked, frozen, and shipped can have less risk than a sausage with a stick in it wrapped with a blueberry pancake infused with syrup.
Use your best judgement.
Is there a link to the actual study? The American Journal link seems to be a different one, and that one has a massive list of types of items classified as UPF (check Appendix A, Table 1), so it's hard to identify what the causal factor(s) are.
Here's a link to the journal website with a search for ultra-processed food.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/search?qs=ultra-processed+food
As a vegetarian, I sometimes eat a lot of meat substitutes that are highly processed.
I figure it's a worthwhile trade.
Meat substitutes are not necessarily UPFs.
"Processed" is a shitty descriptor without a clear definition. Cooking a food is processing it, but some food only become degestible (like some meat) when you cook it. Bread and all baked goods are processed. Are they all going to end us?
So you may not even be making a trade here. Not all substitudes are equal.
You're totally right. I suppose I am thinking of things like chicken't nuggets or Beyond Beef. Things that would be considered junk food anyways.
There’s bread and there’s bread and there’s bread. All are highly processed, given the milling, kneading, fermentation, and baking required for bread, but there’s a huge gap between wonder bread and Russian black bread. I’d be very surprised if the latter is worse for you than bananas, a starch we eat with very little processing
That hot dog bun and the cupcake with a head next to it are concerning
It's a shame that bread and donuts are de facto considered ultra processed foods now. Done right, they totally aren't.
The pictures also shows french fries and popcorn. In my house those are literally just potatoes and olive oil and popcorn and olive oil respectively, maybe some salt. Bad for me? Maybe, but ultra processed?
I think they might be referencing the pre-packaged-already-popped popcorn or the microwavable version.
I'm rather surprised you are able to pop corn with olive oil. Temp-wise you would hit the smoke point well before the oil was hot enough to pop the kernals, which would be smoky misery in the kitchen.
Slicing them to vastly multiply their surface area so that more Maillard reaction can occur, and it's that Maillard reaction that causes the yummy browning, and causes the proteins and starches to change and become potentially harmful/carcinogenic, plus yes the addition of fatty oil that wasn't present at all.
A lot of us think of "processing" as like, something a food processor does - reducing and changing the form. But it's also the chemical changes that occur during cooking as a result of the physical processes. When you look at the before/after of a potato and an equal volume of fries, it's apparent you've drastically changed the base food.
Even done fast they could be better.
The Aerated Baking Company had bread close to as fast and cheap as the modern Chorleywood process, but it isn't ultra-glutenous. They were also an early feminist icon.
surprised Pikachu face
I really like this creator and she has a number of videos on this topic if anyone is seeking more information
Kiana Docherty YouTube2 She has many videos on the topic.
What about smoking, can you make a study on that too? /s
Actually it's important to do these studies so that you have real proof, but man was the outcome not unexpected.
I knew bad food was bad but this numbers are kind of jarring.