Older adults who ate more ultra-processed foods were about 10% more likely to die over about a 23-year average compared to those who ate less processed foods, according to findings being presented at the NUTRITION 2024 conference.
Researchers tracked 318,889 men and 221,607 women who were 50 to 71 years old when the study began in 1995-1996 for a median 22.9 years.
Eating more ultra-processed foods (think cookies, ice cream, soda and some yogurts) was associated with modest increases in death from any cause and from deaths related specifically to heart disease or diabetes. That association wasn’t found for cancer-related deaths.
“Our study results support a larger body of literature, including both observational and experimental studies, which indicate that ultra-processed food intake adversely impacts health and longevity,” Erikka Loftfield, PhD, an investigator at the National Cancer Institute, said in a statement. “However, there is still a lot that we don’t know, including what aspects of ultra-processed foods pose potential health risks.”
Since the start of the study, about half of the participants have died. The researchers evaluated the rates of death among those who were in the 90th percentile for eating ultra-processed foods when the study began compared to those in the 10th percentile. Investigators also detected associations between specific foods and certain diseases.
“We observed that highly processed meat and soft drinks were a couple of the subgroups of ultra-processed food most strongly associated with mortaility risk and eating a diet low in these foods is already recommended for disease prevention and health promotion,” Loftfield said. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting sugary drinks as well as processed meats.
Researchers didn’t just look at diets; they took into consideration other factors that can raise a person’s risk for death, such as smoking or being clinically obese. People who ate more ultra-processed foods were likely to have higher body mass index and a lower Healthy Eating Index score (a score of diet quality based on how well an individual’s diet aligns with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans).
