Research shows that eating ready-made meals makes you 23 percent more likely to die from three major killers
A study of more than 400,000 people found that people who eat a lot of ultra-processed foods (UPFs), such as ready-made meals, are 25 percent more likely to die from Parkinson’s disease.
Junk food eaters were also about 10 percent less likely to survive a stroke or heart attack.
Regardless of the underlying condition, eating a lot of ultra-processed foods increased the risk of premature death by four percent.
However, replacing a fraction of one’s daily junk food intake with fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of death from any cause by six percent.
The study followed more than 400,000 Europeans from nine countries between the ages of 35 and 74 for almost 16 years, monitoring their diet and health outcomes.
Writing in the diary The Lancet Regional Health – Europethe researchers said their results provided more evidence about the potential benefits of eating fewer UPFs.
“Promoting consumption of whole/minimally processed foods and discouraging highly processed foods in dietary recommendations may be beneficial to health,” they wrote.
UPFs – such as crisps, store-bought cakes, biscuits and some packaged meats – are typically packed with salt and sugar, as well as industrial colourants, flavor enhancers, emulsifiers and preservatives.
The study was conducted among more than 400,000 Europeans and was followed for almost sixteen years to warn about the potential dangers of using UPF. Stock image
These foods typically undergo multiple industrial processes that research has shown affect the physical structure of foods, causing them to be rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream.
This in turn increases blood sugar levels, decreases satiety and damages the microbiome – the community of ‘friendly’ bacteria that live in our gut and on which we depend for good health.
Food additives such as non-nutritive sweeteners, modified starches, gums and emulsifiers have been linked to intestinal inflammation and hormonal responses to food that can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Most striking in the latest findings was the 23 percent higher risk of death from Parkinson’s disease among those who ate above-average levels of UPF – defined as at least 13.7 percent of a participant’s daily food intake.
Parkinson’s, which causes nerve cells in the brain to die, resulting in movement problems, does not directly cause death.
However, the condition puts a lot of strain on the body, leaving a person vulnerable to deadly infections.
A diet rich in UPF also increased the risk of death from ‘digestive diseases’ – an umbrella term that includes problems such as liver disease, complications from peptic ulcers and appendicitis, by 12 percent.
The risk of dying from a stroke increased by 11 percent, and the number of fatalities due to cardiovascular problems such as heart disease increased by 5 to 9 percent.
The Nova system, developed by scientists in Brazil more than a decade ago, divides food into four groups based on the amount of processing it has undergone. Unprocessed foods include fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs and meat. Processed culinary ingredients – which are not usually eaten alone – include oils, butter, sugar and salt
These results remained consistent even when the researchers excluded the participants’ alcohol intake from the results.
However, the team found no link between UPF consumption and an increased risk of death from cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
A separate part of the study also calculated what would happen if people swapped just 10 percent of the UPFs they ate for whole foods like fresh fruits and vegetables.
The exchange led to a 22 percent lower risk of death from Parkinson’s, an 18 percent lower risk of death from digestive disease, a stroke by 13 percent and heart problems by 11 to 12 percent.
The study was based on data from 428,728 people, the majority (70 percent) of whom were women.
Dietary information was collected through multiple surveys designed to find out what participants had eaten over the past year.
Diets were then ranked based on the amount of ultra-processed foods – from mostly minimally processed to high in UPFs.
Norway recorded the highest average intake of UPFs per country, with foods such as ready meals and frozen pizzas accounting for almost 23 percent of all food consumed by weight.
UPFs refer to items that contain ingredients that people would not normally add when preparing homemade dishes. These additives can include chemicals, colorings, sweeteners and preservatives that extend shelf life
Britain came in second, with almost a fifth of food eaten by Britons having some type of UPF, while Germany came in third with 17 percent.
In contrast, France had the lowest UPF consumption with only 7 percent of food consumed, followed by Spain with 8 percent and Italy with 10 percent.
Like similar research, the results of the latest study are observational, meaning it cannot be proven that UPFs were directly responsible for any health outcomes.
Data on the participants’ diets was only recorded at the start of the study, meaning they may have changed their diet since then, which may have affected the results.
The latest study follows on from a large study last year that found that eating a lot of foods containing UPFs was linked to an increased risk of 32 health problems, including cancer, type 2 diabetes and mental disorders.
UPFs are believed to be a major cause of obesity, which costs the NHS around £6.5 billion a year.
There is an ongoing debate among experts about whether UPFs are directly responsible for health problems, or whether the people who eat them tend to be more vulnerable to health problems.
Part of the problem is that those who eat large amounts of UPFs are, on average, generally unhealthier and poorer, both factors that can influence or worsen poor health outcomes.
Additionally, some ultra-processed foods may be worse for your health than others, and studies rarely take this into account.
Experts have previously described the “vague” nature of the term “ultra-processed food.”
They emphasize that no distinction is made between a ready meal packed with fat, salt and sugar and a wholemeal bread, the latter of which, although still classified as UPF, does have some health benefits.