Eating heavily processed foods increases the risk of heart failure by 58 percent, researchers warn.
While critics of processed foods used to focus on their sugar content, Italian scientists have now analyzed the health effects of processed foods themselves.
“Efforts to lead the population to a healthier diet can no longer be solved only by counting calories or referring to the Mediterranean diet. Young people are increasingly eating ultra-processed foods – easy to prepare and consume, extremely appealing and usually cheap,” writes epidemiologist Licia Iacoviello of the University of Insubria in an article published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
In their study, Dr. Iacoviello and colleagues studied the dietary habits and health of 22,000 people over eight years and found that those subjects who regularly consumed highly processed foods, meaning they accounted for 14.6% of their total diet, were 26% more likely to die prematurely.
According to Marialaura Bonaccio, an epidemiologist at the Mediterraneo Neuromed Institute of Neurology in Pozzilli, people who consume large amounts of processed foods have an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease (which causes brain vessel pathology).
Scientists also noted the role of sugar in processed foods, which often causes fatal health damage. Sugar accounts for 40% of the increased risk of death, the Italian experts noted.
As the study’s co-author, epidemiologist Augusto Di Castelnuovo of the Mediterranea Cardiocentro in Naples, explained, the idea behind the study is to show the role of industrial processing, which can cause profound changes in the structure and composition of nutrients.
“People need to understand that eating healthy is more than counting calories. It includes the need to think about what you eat,” Dr. Castelnuovo explained.
Professor Iacoviello added that their study and other international observations suggest that fresh or minimally processed foods should be paramount in a healthy diet.