The consumption of ultra-processed foods can increase the risk of obesity for adolescents by 45%, according to a study by researchers at the University of São Paulo and published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
The research also pointed out that a diet with high consumption of this type of product increases the risk of abdominal fat accumulation by 52% and by 63% the chance of visceral fat, among the internal organs.
The work was funded by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP).
A total of 3,580 adolescents aged between 12 and 19 years in the United States participated in the study. Interviews and examinations were conducted between 2011 and 2016. Young people were interviewed qualitatively, in a method that recalls all the person’s diet in the last 24 hours.
Daniela Neri, one of those responsible for the study, said that two interviews were carried out with each teenager, in general, one on a working day and the other on the weekend. In this way, according to the researcher, it is possible to have an overview of food in the daily life of young people. “A trained interviewer asks everything he has consumed in the last 24 hours per meal, how it was prepared, time consumed. It is one of the least error-free methods of assessing consumption,” she explained.
The adolescents also underwent tests that measured body mass and the accumulation of fat in the abdomen and internal organs. Daniela Neri emphasizes that visceral fat increases the risk for several diseases.
From the data collected, the young people were divided into three groups, from those who consumed the least ultra-processed foods to those who had the most of these foods in their diet. “We were able to observe that from the increase in the consumption of this food in the weight of the diet, there was a greater risk of obesity”, said the researcher.
fat and sugar
Daniela Neri said that ultra-processed foods have very little nutritional content, but are more attractive, especially for children, as they have flavors, colors and textures designed to please. “They are formulations of substances obtained from the fractionation of fresh foods”, she said, referring to products such as soft drinks, stuffed cookies, instant noodles, snacks and frozen foods.
Despite the use of fresh food in production, the researcher warns that the end result is products that are very caloric and have high amounts of salt, fat and sugar. “Very little of the fresh food stays in these formulations. They include sugar, oils and fats as well. Many substances are added that are for industrial use only, such as protein concentrates, hydrogenated fat and modified starches,” she said.
For young people, the effects of a high consumption of this type of product are, according to the researcher, even greater than in adults. “It is a phase of growth, development of the child. So the impact is very big.”