2024-02-29 10:40:21
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Today
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© cc-photo: Phillip Pessar
Ultra-processed factory food, such as that sold as food in supermarkets, among others, appears to be much more harmful to health than previously thought. The consequences are not bad. Those who regularly consume such factory products are more likely to develop heart disease, cancer, type II diabetes, poor mental health and, to top it all off, premature death.
UPF (Ultra Processed Food), as the English abbreviation is for this type of food, is being consumed more and more. In the US and UK, more than half of the average diet consists of such factory food. Think of sugary breakfast cereals, protein bars, soft drinks and ready-made meals. Among young people and low incomes, that percentage even rises to 80 percent.
The medical scientific journal BMJ publishes a study that indicates that such products are potentially harmful to public health. According to the researchers, the survey among 10 million people makes it clear that measures need to be taken to reduce the influence of UPF. The researchers found 32 direct links between exposure to this factory food and poor health. “Higher exposure to ultra-processed foods was associated with adverse health outcomes, particularly heart disease, common mental illness and premature death,” the researchers write.
Ultra-processed food, as the name suggests, undergoes various industrial processes in which all kinds of emulsions and colorings, aromas and flavors are added. In addition, they often contain a lot of sugar, salt and fat but few vitamins and fiber. It has previously been shown that supermarket food is bad for health, but the connection has never been so widely mapped out, writes The Guardian. It is not only sold in supermarkets but also at gas stations and other types of businesses.
The researchers conducted surveys, collected food logs and diet data. This made it clear that the more supermarket food people consume, the worse their health status is. In the case of heart disease the risk increased by 50 percent, for mental disorders the risk was 53 percent higher.
As usual, scientists cannot determine with certainty that factory food is really the major pathogen because in theory other factors could also play a role. For example, people who eat one bag of chips after another often have psychological disorders, but the question is whether these are caused by the unhealthy snack. Other experts therefore question the conclusions.
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