Consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) raises the risk of early death many times, reveals new research, rekindling appeals for a clampdown on UPF.
The study says that every 10% additional consumption of ultra-processed food, like bread, cakes, and ready meals, increases the risk of dying before the age of 75 by 3%. The international research was conducted in several countries, including the US and England.

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UPF’s impact is so damaging that it is said to be responsible for one in seven of all premature deaths in some countries, claimed the paper in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The review of dietary and mortality data from eight countries— the UK and US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile and Mexico—revealed that UPF is associated with 124,107 early deaths in the US in a year and 17,781 deaths every year in England, said a report in The Guardian.

Eduardo Augusto Fernandes Nilson, the study’s lead investigator, from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil, said that additives like sweeteners and flavourings also have a harmful impact, not just the high levels of fat, salt, and sugar.

The highest proportion of premature deaths “attributable to UPF consumption” was in England at 13.8%, followed by 13.7% in the US and 10.9% in Canada. 

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Death rates are highest in the countries where the population gets the largest amounts of total energy from eating UPF.

In England that is 53.4%, according to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey undertaken in 2018-19. But it is even higher in the US—54.5%.

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“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 colourants, artificial flavours and sweeteners, emulsifiers, and 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,” said Nilson.

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At present the burden of ill health from UPF is highest in high-income countries, but it is steadily growing in low- and middle-income nations also, he added.

The authors urged governments worldwide to tackle ultra-processed foods with bold measures, like increasing taxes on them and tighter regulations on their sales in schools and workplaces to reduce sales.

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The findings add evidence linking UPF to higher risk of specific illnesses, like cancer and heart disease, and increased overall risk of dying before 75. 

A US research published last year in the BMJ found that people with high UPF consumption have a 4% higher risk of death overall and a 9% greater risk of dying from something other than cancer or heart disease. It said that processed meat, sugar and ultra-processed breakfast foods, such as cereals, were the unhealthiest UPF products.