Revealed: The 21 ultra-processed foods to avoid and the ones that are actually healthy, according to a 30-year study

The devastating health consequences of eating too much junk food are now well known.

But when it comes to so-called “ultra-processed foods,” not all are created equal.

A groundbreaking study published this week found that there are seven categories considered the most harmful to your health.

Some of them were probably no surprise: soda, microwave meals, and brightly colored candies.

Others may have been more of a shock: white bread, breakfast bars and ketchup.

The reason, the study says, is that these seven food groups have multiple processing stages, adding more synthetic ingredients that have little nutritional value and can cause harmful effects in the body.

They also contain more artificial ingredients such as dyes and dyes, which have been linked to conditions such as hyperactivity and cancer.

DailyMail.com has chosen some of the most popular foods from these categories to create a surprising graphic warning of the highest risk foods.

The latest survey took place among 100,000 Americans. It took more than 30 years.

“We observed strong positive associations between ultra-processed foods and mortality rates,” the researchers wrote in the study, published Wednesday in the journal The Guardian. British Journal of Medicine.

The team found that people who ate the most servings of ultra-processed foods – around seven per day – were four percent more likely to die from any cause than those who stuck to three daily servings.

In addition, they were nine percent more likely to die from neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, Parkinson’s, ALS and Huntington’s disease.

In particular, the biggest culprits were processed meats like deli meats and dairy-based jerky desserts like ice cream, and convenient breakfast foods like pre-cooked sausage and Pop-Tarts.

The researchers also warned against chips, condiments, snack cakes and even some bread.

For example, popular chips like Cheetos, Doritos and Ruffles get their bright orange color from dyes like Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Red 40. Diet Sundrop Soda is also a culprit because it contains yellow dyes.

States like California, New York, New Jersey and Missouri have tried to put these dyes on the chopping block because they contain benzidine, a known carcinogen.

According to the FDA, ingesting free benzidine increases the risk of cancer to just below the “concern” threshold, or one cancer in 1 million people.

The colors are not outright banned in the EU, nor in the US. But unlike in the US, European authorities must apply a warning label describing the risks of the dyes.

They are theorized to worsen attention problems in children, leading to EU regulators requiring product manufacturers to say that dyes “may have a negative effect on activity and attention in children.”

Fans of Twinkies and breakfast cereals like Cap’n Crunch will also take a dose of yellow 5 and 6.

Meanwhile, the researchers also flagged processed meats such as Oscar Mayer sliced ​​turkey and ham, Hillshire Farm dried salami and Slim Jims.

That’s because they contain nitrates, compounds made of nitrogen and oxygen atoms.

When eaten, nitrates can undergo a reaction that turns them into a substance called N-nitrosochemicals (NOCs).

These can damage the cells that line the intestine, the organ that processes your food, which in turn can lead to the development of cancer.

Several studies have shown a link between these substances and certain cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer, and a recent report from the World Health Organization declared processed meat a ‘class one carcinogen’, putting it alongside smoking and drinking.

The researchers also flagged condiments and dressings, many of which, like Heinz Tomato Ketchup, contain high fructose corn syrup. Many experts have said that this artificial sugar is responsible for the obesity epidemic in America.

This is because it has been linked to blood sugar spikes, problems with appetite control and increased calorie intake.

Other sauces and condiments such as Sweet Baby Ray’s Original BBQ Sauce and Walmart’s Great Value Maple Syrup also have high fructose corn syrup on their ingredient labels. Moreover, there is also a bottle of Coca-Cola full of it.

Meanwhile, dairy-based desserts and certain breads, as well as breakfast foods like Pop-Tarts, also increased the risk of death. These are packed with emulsifiers, synthetic compounds that help hold ingredients like oil and water together.

There is some evidence that eating foods with emulsifiers can have adverse health effects.

For example, a Spanish study in mice looked at the emulsifiers carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate-80, which are found in thousands of microwave meals, butters and ice creams.

A group of pregnant female mice were given water with one percent emulsifiers, the maximum allowed by the FDA.

Usually somewhere between 0.25 and 0.8 percent is added to food.

The team found that the mice’s offspring showed unintentional weight loss and anxious behavior when they were 10 weeks old.

Additionally, male mice were more likely to experience weight loss, while females were more likely to experience anxiety.

This is because the emulsifiers disrupted the neural connections in the hypothalamus, a brain structure that acts as the body’s control center. The hypothalamus produces leptin, a hormone that causes the body to use more energy, leading to weight loss.

And a large French study among 100,000 adults published in The Lancet earlier this month suggested that continued exposure to emulsifiers increased the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Additionally, packaged desserts and candies such as Little Debbie’s Zebra Cakes and Teddy Grahams contain cornstarch in their ingredients.

This is usually used to thicken soups, stews, sauces and desserts and to hold certain fillings together.

According to the USDA, cornstarch has a high glycemic index, meaning it can increase blood sugar levels. Over time, repeated blood sugar spikes have been shown to lead to diabetes and obesity.

It is also a refined carbohydrate. A Analysis 2020 found that a diet high in refined carbohydrates was linked to a greater risk of heart disease, obesity and high blood pressure.

However, the BMJ researchers noted that not all ultra-processed foods should be cut out.

Dr. Mingyang Song, lead author of the study and associate professor of clinical epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health, said CNN: ‘Cereals, whole wheat bread for example, are also considered ultra-processed foods, but contain several beneficial nutrients such as fiber, vitamins and minerals.’

“On the other hand, I do think people should try to avoid or limit consumption of certain ultra-processed foods, such as processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, and also possibly artificially sweetened beverages.”