As many as 18,000 premature deaths a year could be attributed to the food type, according to a worrying study.
Thousands of Brits may be eating themselves to an early grave with one specific food type, according to a worrying new study. Research suggests that as many as 18,000 premature deaths a year in the UK could be attributable to ultra-processed foods (UPFs).
UPFs often have chemicals added to them that mean they last longer before going off. But these additives, which aren't found in most home cooking, have been linked to a range of health issues.
While UPFs like crisps, processed meats, mass-produced bread, and fizzy juice may be quick and tasty, they are often low in nutritional value. And due to their higher levels of saturated fat, salt and sugar and ingredients like preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners, and artificial colours, some people have been opting for a healthier diet and ditching UPFs for healthier, more natural alternatives.
And that may prove to be a shrewd move after a recent study linked UPF intake with early deaths. The researchers analysed dietary and mortality data from eight countries - Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, the UK, and the USA.
The study - published on Monday, April 28, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine - found that premature deaths attributable to UPFs increased significantly in those countries where the ultra-processed foods made up a larger proportion of an individual's diet.
In the UK, where data was taken from 2018-19, our average UPF intake was 53.4 per cent, a close second behind the US in 2017-18 (54.5 per cent). And the researchers found UK attributable deaths to be 13.8 per cent, slightly above the US (13.7 per cent).
According to the study's analysis, this means that 17,781 of the 128,743 early deaths in that time period were attributable to UPFs.
This figure dwarfs that of nation's at the other end of the scale, where more natural foods are prioritised.
In Colombia, where their average UPF intake was just 15 per cent, it attributed to 3.9 per cent of early deaths. And in Brazil, it was 17.4 per cent of their intake and 4.5 per cent of premature deaths.
The research found that for every 10 per cent increase in average energy consumption from UPFs in your diet, your risk of early death from all causes rises by 3 per cent.
The study's lead investigator, Dr Eduardo Nilson from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil, said: "UPFs affect health beyond the individual impact of high content of critical nutrients (sodium, trans fats, and sugar) because of the changes in the foods during industrial processing and the use of artificial ingredients, including colorants, artificial flavors and sweeteners, emulsifiers, and many other additives and processing aids.
"So assessing deaths from all-causes associated with UPF consumption allows an overall estimate of the effect of industrial food processing on health."
Previous studies on UPFs were more focused on specific dietary risk factors, rather than food patterns.
But Nilson's research modeled data from nationally representative dietary surveys and mortality data from each of the countries to link dietary patterns and analyse the link between processed food and deaths from all causes.
Dr Nilson said: "We first estimated a linear association between the dietary share of UPFs and all-cause mortality, so that each 10 per cent increase in the participation of UPFs in the diet increases the risk of death from all causes by 3 per cent.
"Then, using the relative risks and the food consumption data for all countries, we built a model that estimated that the percentage of all-cause premature preventable deaths due to the consumption of UPFs can vary from 4 per cent in countries with lower UPF consumption to almost 14 per cent in countries with the highest UPF consumption.
For example, in 2018, 124,000 premature deaths were attributable to the consumption of UPFs in the United States."
Dr Nilson said it was "concerning" not only that some countries already have high UPF intake levels, but that others - often less wealthy nations - were seeing a continuous rise in UPFs in their diet.
He said: "While in high-income countries UPF consumption is already high but relatively stable for over a decade, in low- and middle-income countries the consumption has continuously increased, meaning that while the attributable burden in high-income countries is currently higher, it is growing in the other countries.
"This shows that policies that disincentivise the consumption of UPFs are urgently needed globally, promoting traditional dietary patterns based on local fresh and minimally processed foods."
Ewan Mowat