Daily consumption of frozen pizzas, ready-to-eat meals and pre-packaged meals can kill you early in life, a new study has revealed.
New Delhi: Home cooked food is always good for health. However, sometimes some of us have no choice but to survive on pre-packaged foods, which can be very harmful to our health. Daily consumption of pre-packaged soups, sauces, frozen pizzas and ready-to-eat meals can lead to death early in life, a study has found. Consumption of such foods was associated with more than 10 percent of premature, preventable deaths in Brazil in 2019, according to new research.
Although Brazilians consume far less of these products than in high-income countries, consumption of ultraprocessed foods contributed to 57,000 premature deaths in Brazil in 2019 with little or no whole foods in their ingredients, investigators reported in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. is
Such eat-and-drink-or-heat industrial formulations, prepared with ingredients extracted from foods or synthesized in laboratories, are gradually replacing traditional foods and meals made from fresh and minimally processed ingredients in many countries.
“Previous modeling studies have estimated the health and economic burden of critical components such as sodium, sugar and trans fat, and specific foods or beverages, such as sugar-sweetened beverages,” explains principal investigator, Eduardo AF Nilsson of the University of São Paulo. and Osvaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil.
“To our knowledge, no study to date has estimated the potential impact of ultraprocessed foods on premature mortality. Knowing the deaths caused by consumption of these foods and modeling how changes in dietary patterns can support more effective food policies can prevent disease and premature death,” Nielsen said.
Examples of ultraprocessed foods are prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizzas, ready-to-eat meals, hot dogs, sausages, sodas, ice cream, and store-bought cookies, cakes, candy, and donuts. Across all age groups and genders during the study period, consumption of ultraprocessed foods ranged from 13 percent to 21 percent of total food consumption in Brazil.
A total of 5,41,260 adults aged 30 to 69 died prematurely in 2019, of which 2,61,061 were from preventable, non-communicable diseases.
The model found that approximately 57,000 deaths a year could be attributed to consumption of ultraprocessed foods, corresponding to 10.5 percent of all premature deaths and 21.8 percent of all deaths from preventable noncommunicable diseases among adults aged 30 to 69.
The researchers suggested that in high-income countries such as the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, where ultraprocessed foods account for more than half of total calorie intake, the estimated effect would be even greater.
Multiple interventions and public health measures may be needed to reduce consumption of ultraprocessed foods and promote healthy food choices. “Ultraprocessed food consumption is associated with many disease outcomes, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, some cancers and other diseases, and is a significant cause of preventable and premature death among Brazilian adults,” Nielsen said.
