Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to Higher Mortality

A US prospective population based cohort study suggested that higher ultra-processed food intake was associated with slightly increased all-cause mortality. The associations were mainly driven by meat/poultry/seafood based ready-to-eat products, sugar and artificially sweetened beverages, dairy based desserts, and ultra-processed breakfast foods. The study included 74 563 women (1984-2018) and 39 501 men (1986-2018) with no history of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, or diabetes at baseline. During a median of 34 and 31 years of follow-up, 30 188 and 18 005 deaths of women and men were documented, respectively. Compared with those in the lowest quarter of ultra-processed food consumption, participants in the highest quarter had a 4% higher all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 1.04) and 9% higher mortality from causes other than cancer or cardiovascular diseases (HR 1.09). The all-cause mortality rate among participants in the lowest and highest quarter was 1472 and 1536 per 100 000 person years, respectively. Meat/poultry/seafood based ready-to-eat products (for example, processed meat) consistently showed strong associations with mortality outcomes (HRs ranged from 1.06 to 1.43). Sugar sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages (HR 1.09), dairy based desserts (HR 1.07), and ultra-processed breakfast food (HR 1.04) were also associated with higher all-cause mortality. However, dietary quality was observed to have a more predominant influence on mortality outcomes than ultra-processed food consumption, with better dietary quality showed an inverse association with mortality within each quarter of ultra-processed foods. The findings are in accordance with previous studies and provide support for limiting consumption of certain types of ultra-processed food for long term health. Source: https://www.bmj.com/