Older adults who reported a higher intake of ultra-processed foods, as defined by the NOVA classification system, were approximately 10% more likely to die over an average 23-year follow-up period compared to those who reported a lower intake of processed foods, according to a new study.
The findings are based on a large-scale study that followed more than half a million American adults for nearly 30 years. They found that a high intake of ultra-processed foods was associated with a small increase in deaths from any cause, and specifically deaths related to heart disease and diabetes, but not with cancer-related deaths.
“Our findings add to a larger body of literature, including both observational and experimental studies, that shows that consumption of ultra-processed foods has negative effects on health and longevity. However, there is still much we do not know, including which aspects of ultra-processed foods pose potential health risks.”
Dr. Erica Loftfield, Stadtmann Research Fellow at the National Cancer Institute
Loftfield will present his findings at NUTRITION 2024, the American Academy of Nutrition’s flagship annual meeting, taking place in Chicago from June 29 to July 2.
The study collected data from more than 540,000 people who provided information about their dietary habits and health in the mid-1990s when they were between the ages of 50 and 71. More than half of the participants have since died. The researchers analyzed overall mortality rates for people who were in the 90th and 10th percentiles of ultra-processed food intake at baseline, and also looked for associations between specific foods and specific diseases.
“We found that highly processed meats and soft drinks were some of the ultra-processed food subgroups most strongly associated with mortality risk, and diets low in these foods are already recommended for disease prevention and health promotion,” Loftfield said. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting consumption of sugary beverages and processed meats such as hot dogs, sausages and deli meats.
In this study, researchers used multiple strategies to classify the level of processing of different foods, including categorizing food frequency questionnaire data into specific food and ingredient types, as well as incorporating expert consensus to classify dietary components according to a standard called the NOVA classification system.
The researchers also took into account other factors that may increase the risk of death, such as smoking and obesity. They found that people who consumed more ultra-processed foods tended to have a higher body mass index (BMI) and a lower healthy eating index (a measure of diet quality based on how close a person’s diet is to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans). However, the analysis found that the association between ultra-processed food intake and higher mortality could not be explained by these variables, because the association between higher ultra-processed food intake and risk of death persisted among people classified as having good or poor diet quality, as well as among people classified as normal weight or obese.
One caveat is that the study design doesn’t allow the researchers to determine causation. Additionally, Loftfield noted that the U.S. food supply and dietary preferences have changed significantly since the mid-1990s, when the study’s baseline data was collected, and he stressed the importance of continued research to further elucidate the relationship between food processing and human health.
Loftfield will present this research during a Nutrition Epidemiology Poster Session on Sunday, June 30, from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. CDT at McCormick Place. (Abstract, presentation details)
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American Academy of Nutrition
