{"id":1815,"date":"2025-07-01T11:04:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T11:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/01\/eating-more-ultraprocessed-food-ups-the-risk-of-premature-death-study-finds\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T11:04:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T11:04:04","slug":"eating-more-ultraprocessed-food-ups-the-risk-of-premature-death-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/01\/eating-more-ultraprocessed-food-ups-the-risk-of-premature-death-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Eating more ultraprocessed food ups the risk of premature death, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8dio0001r28nqbi6y2mtd@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            As you add more ultraprocessed foods to your diet, your risk of a premature death from any cause rises, according to a new meta-analysis of research involving more than 240,000 people.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh08000r3b6m53e1g6i9@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cWe looked at the risk of a person dying from eating more ultraprocessed foods between the ages of 30 and 69, a time when it would be premature to die,\u201d said study coauthor Carlos Augusto Monteiro, emeritus professor of nutrition and public health in the School of Public Health at Brazil\u2019s University of S\u00e3o Paulo.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh08000s3b6mv6p0nthb@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cWe found that for each 10% increase in total calories from ultraprocessed foods, the risk of dying prematurely rose by nearly 3%,\u201d said Monteiro, who coined the term \u201cultraprocessed\u201d in 2009 when he developed NOVA, a system of classifying foods into four groups by their level of processing.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cm9x9mnrt00023b6m0klm9yvi@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content_full-width related-content_full-width--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<div class=\"related-content_full-width__image image__related-content\">            <\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content_full-width__headline\">            <span class=\"related-content_full-width__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/span>      <span class=\"related-content_full-width__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">Clusters of additives in ultraprocessed foods linked to type 2 diabetes, study finds<\/span>    <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh08000t3b6mk1e05q1x@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Group one of the NOVA system is unprocessed or minimally processed foods in their natural state, such as fruits, vegetables, meat, milk and eggs. Group two includes culinary ingredients such as salt, herbs and oils. Group three consists of processed foods that combine groups one and two \u2014 canned goods and frozen vegetables are examples.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh08000u3b6m6unjukao@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Group four includes ultraprocessed foods. By Monteiro\u2019s definition, ultraprocessed foods contain little to no whole food. Instead, they are manufactured from \u201cchemically manipulated cheap ingredients\u201d and often use \u201csynthetic additives to make them edible, palatable and habit-forming.\u201d<s><\/s>    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh08000v3b6me5fvlpjf@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cNo reason exists to believe that humans can fully adapt to these products,\u201d Monteiro cowrote in a 2024 editorial in the journal The BMJ.  \u201cThe body may react to them as useless or harmful, so its systems may become impaired or damaged, depending on their vulnerability and the amount of ultra-processed food consumed.\u201d    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cm9x8sm4s001i3b6mpov3ruma@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content_full-width related-content_full-width--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<div class=\"related-content_full-width__image image__related-content\">            <\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content_full-width__headline\">            <span class=\"related-content_full-width__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/span>      <span class=\"related-content_full-width__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">If we shouldn\u2019t eat ultraprocessed foods, what should we eat instead?<\/span>    <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh08000w3b6m2ess4kjg@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The new study is misleading and will lead to consumer confusion, said Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy for the Consumer Brands Association, which represents the food industry.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh08000x3b6mpghpupdz@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cDemonizing convenient, affordable and shelf ready food and beverage products could limit access to and cause avoidance of nutrient dense foods,\u201d Gallo said in an email, \u201cresulting in decreased diet quality, increased risk of food-borne illness and exacerbated health disparities.\u201d    <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader vossi-subheader vossi-subheader--size-h2\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cm9x8qhl7001b3b6m04n8d66a@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"just-a-serving-a-day-matters-studies-say\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        Just a serving a day matters, studies say<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh08000y3b6m8e8xxc8o@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            This study is not the first to find an association between negative health outcomes and small increases in ultraprocessed food.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh08000z3b6m5yvewuca@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            A February 2024 study found \u201cstrong\u201d evidence that people who ate more ultraprocessed food had a 50% higher risk of cardiovascular disease-related death and common mental disorders.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh0800103b6mfrj34oqo@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Higher intake of ultraprocessed foods might also increase the risk of anxiety by up to 53%, obesity by 55%, sleep disorders by 41%, development of type 2 diabetes by 40% and the risk of depression or an early death from any cause by 20%.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh0800113b6m6g4qywex@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Researchers in the February study defined a higher intake as one serving or about 10% more ultraprocessed foods per day.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cm9x8t9eq001k3b6mrl1gbinu@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content_full-width related-content_full-width--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<div class=\"related-content_full-width__image image__related-content\">            <\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content_full-width__headline\">            <span class=\"related-content_full-width__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/span>      <span class=\"related-content_full-width__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">Certain foods may disrupt your body\u2019s fight against cancer cells, study says<\/span>    <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh0800123b6mob2xrvxg@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            A May 2024 study found that adding just 10% of ultraprocessed food to an otherwise healthy diet may also increase the risk of cognitive decline and stroke, while 2023 research determined that including 10% more ultraprocessed foods was linked to a greater chance of developing cancers of the upper digestive tract.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh0800133b6ma1e2wjiq@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            It\u2019s estimated that as much as 70% of the US food supply is ultraprocessed.    <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader vossi-subheader vossi-subheader--size-h2\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cm9x8qhl9001c3b6m54y0fk6w@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"a-global-estimate-of-preventable-deaths\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        A global estimate of preventable deaths<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh0800153b6m8h9sjsk8@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The latest study, published Monday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, took an additional step by estimating how many deaths might be prevented in eight countries with low, medium and high consumption of ultraprocessed foods.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh0800163b6m5tt1ndkf@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cPremature preventable deaths due to the consumption of UPFs can vary from 4% in countries with lower UPF consumption to almost 14% in countries with the highest UPF consumption,\u201d lead study author Eduardo Augusto Fernandes Nilson, a researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, said in a statement.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh0800173b6mdifvo80s@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            However, it\u2019s important to note that the study was unable to determine if the deaths were \u201ccaused by UPF consumption. The methods of this study simply cannot determine this,\u201d said nutrition scientist Nerys Astbury, an associate professor of diet and obesity at the UK\u2019s University of Oxford, in a statement. He was not involved in the study.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh0800183b6m4sgwfbh0@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The United States has the highest level of ultraprocessed food consumption in the world \u2014 nearly 55% of the average American\u2019s diet, according to the study. Researchers estimated reducing the use of those ultraprocessed foods to zero would have prevented over 124,000 deaths in the US in 2017.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh0800193b6mymxa8yws@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In countries where consumption of ultraprocessed foods is low, such as Colombia (15% of the diet) and Brazil (17.4%), reducing the use to zero would have prevented nearly 3,000 deaths in the former country in 2015 and 25,000 deaths in the latter in 2017, according to the study.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x8qh08001a3b6momy037y8@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cThe authors set the theoretical minimal risk level to be 0. This implies a scenario where all UPFs are eliminated, which is highly unrealistic and nearly impossible in our current society,\u201d Zhang said in an email. \u201cAs a result, the estimated burden of pre-mature death due to UPFs could be overestimated.\u201d    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cm9x8uyvq001m3b6mi1kmhgge@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content_full-width related-content_full-width--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<div class=\"related-content_full-width__image image__related-content\">            <\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content_full-width__headline\">            <span class=\"related-content_full-width__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/span>      <span class=\"related-content_full-width__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">Here are the ultraprocessed foods you most need to avoid, according to a 30-year study<\/span>    <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9x960ok00003b6mj6yxjfhe@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Stephen Burgess, a statistician in the MRC Biostatistics Unit at the UK\u2019s University of Cambridge, said that while the study cannot prove the consumption of ultraprocessed foods is harmful, \u201cit does provide evidence linking consumption with poorer health outcomes.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cm9xaih4x00083b6mwbmrkjdf@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cIt is possible that the true causal risk factor is not ultraprocessed foods, but a related risk factor such as better physical fitness \u2014 and ultraprocessed foods is simply an innocent bystander,\u201d said Burgess, who was not involved in the study, in a statement. \u201cBut, when we see these associations replicated across many countries and cultures, it raises suspicion that ultraprocessed foods may be more than a bystander.\u201d    <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div>This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As you add more ultraprocessed foods to your diet, your risk of a premature death&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elderwoodwellness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}