Summary: Ultra-processed food are linked to accelerated natural aging, as confirmed in a study investigating over 22, 000 individuals. Scientists found that these meals, high in chemicals and ingredients, speed up the body’s internal aging clock, freely of nutritional value. These findings highlight the potential need for diet guidelines that take into account the level of food processing and encourage full food consumption in order to encourage long-term health.
Important Information:
- High ultra-processed meals consumption is associated with increased genetic ageing, measured by blood biomarkers.
- Ultra-processed food, rich in substances and low in fiber, can affect glucose digestion and colon health.
- Biological aging reflects the brain’s actual health position, which may vary from historical age, which raises the dangers of food high in processed food.
Origin: IRCCS
A research conducted by the , Research Unit of Epidemiology and Prevention at the I. R. C. C. S. Neuromed in Pozzilli, in partnership with the , LUM University of Casamassima, shows that higher consumption of ultra-processed products is associated with the motion of natural aging, regardless of the nutrient quality of the meal.
The results were published in the exclusive journal , The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Italia researchers analyzed data on over , 22, 000 participants , from the , Moli-sani Study, one of the largest population groups in Europe, and used , over thirty different body biomarkers , to assess biological time.
Biological age, which is dependent solely on the birthdate, reflects the natural conditions of our body, including our bodies ‘ organs, tissues, and techniques, and can be different from chronological age.
Using a detailed food frequency questionnaire, researchers were able to estimate participant’s consumption of , ultra-processed foods, that is foods made in part or entirely with substances not routinely used in the kitchen ( e. g., hydrolysed proteins, maltodextrins, hydrogenated fats ), that generally contain various additives, such as dyes, preservatives, antioxidants, anticaking agents, flavour enhancers and sweeteners.
Ultra-processed foods include not only packaged snacks or sweetened drinks, but even apparently’ safe’ products like mass-produced or packaged bread, fruit yogurt, some breakfast cereals or meat alternatives, to give a several examples.
The study found that consuming more highly processed foods is linked to a substantial increase in the natural aging of individuals. Generally,  , people turned out to be medically older than their genuine chronological age.
Biological aging is actually an “internal clock” of our body, which is bite more or less quickly than the ages indicated on the calendar, indicating the organism’s current state of health.
Our findings, according to Simona Esposito, a researcher at the Research Unit of Epidemiology and Prevention and the study’s first writer, show that consuming a lot of ultra-processed products not only causes a negative impact on health in general, but also may accelerate aging itself, implying a link that goes beyond the impoverished nutritional value of these products.
” The mechanisms through which ultra-processed foods can be harmful to human health are not yet entirely clear – explains researcher , Marialaura Bonaccio, nutritional epidemiologist at the Research Unit of Epidemiology and Prevention-IRCCS Neuromed.
These foods are subject to intense industrial processing, which actually alters their food matrix, with the result of a loss of nutrients and fiber, in addition to being nutritionally inadequate, rich in sugars, salt, and saturated or trans fats.
” This can have important consequences for a series of physiological functions, including glucose metabolism, and the composition and functionality of the gut microbiota. Additionally, these goods are frequently presented in plastic bags, making them” transporters of substances toxic to the body.”
This study prompts us once more to reevaluate the current dietary recommendations, which should also include warnings on limiting the intake of ultra-processed food in our daily diet, says Licia Iacoviello, director of the Research Unit of Epidemiology and Prevention at the IRCCS Neuromed and full professor of hygiene at LUM in Casamassima.
” Actually, some nutrient-dense packaged foods can be classified as ultra-processed, and this suggest the need of guiding people towards dietary choices that address also the degree of food processing”.
About this news about diet and aging
Author: Americo Bonanni
Source: IRCCS
Contact: Americo Bonanni – IRCCS
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
In the Moli-sani Study, Simona Esposito and colleagues found that” consuming ultra-processed food consumption is associated with the acceleration of biological aging.” Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Abstract
According to the Moli-sani study, eating ultra-processed food is linked to the acceleration of biological aging.
Background
Healthy diets have an inverse relationship to biological aging. However, the nutritional content is only one aspect of the overall food health potential, and more recently, increasing attention has been paid to nonnutrient food characteristics, such as food processing.
Objectives
To examine whether consumption of ultra-processed foods ( UFF ) is related to biological aging as determined by circulating blood biomarkers.
Methods
Cross-sectional analyses were conducted on 22, 495 participants enrolled in the Moli-sani Study ( 2005–2010, Italy ). Food intake was assessed by a 188-item food frequency questionnaire. UPF was defined as the ratio ( weight ratio, % ) between total food consumed ( g/d ) and the Nova classification. The Mediterranean Diet Score ( MDS, range: 0 to 9 ) was used to evaluate diet quality. A deep neural network approach based on 36 circulating biomarkers was used to determine biological age ( BA ), and the resultant difference ( age = BA- chronological age ) was used as a dependent variable in multivariable linear regression analyses including known risk factors.
Results
The mean Δage in this population was −0.70 ( standard deviation ±7.70 ) years. In multivariable-adjusted analyses, higher intake of UPF was associated with accelerated Δage]β , = 0.34 years, 95 % confidence interval ( CI): 0.08, 0.61 for the last fifth compared with the first ). This association was not linear ( P , value for overall association <, 0.001,  , P , value for nonlinearity = 0.049 ). Inclusion of the MDS into the model slightly attenuated this association by 9.1 % ( β , = 0.31 years, 95 % CI: 0.04, 0.59 ).
Conclusions
In a sizable sample of Italian adults, a diet high in UPF was linked to an increase in biological aging. This association was insufficiently explained by the poor nutritional composition of highly processed foods, which suggests that biological aging may be affected by these foods’ nonnutrient characteristics.
