Some You Should Avoid to Improve Your Overall Health

The study, which lasted 30 years, tracked the health of more than 74,000 nurses and 39,000 healthcare professionals.

Every two years, study participants provided information about their lifestyle and health habits. Every four years, participants also completed a dietary questionnaire. The overall quality of their diet was then noted.

Researchers reported that those who consumed an average of seven servings of ultra-processed foods per day had a 4% higher risk of death than their peers who consumed an average of three servings of ultra-processed foods per day.

Those who consumed the most ultra-processed foods also had an 8% higher risk of neurodegenerative deaths.

Among ultra-processed food groups, dairy-based desserts were most strongly associated with deaths from neurodegenerative causes.

“Increasing evidence suggests that ultra-processed foods are linked to a higher risk of central nervous system demyelination (a precursor to multiple sclerosis), decreased cognitive function, and dementia. Studies have shown that a diet high in ultra-processed foods can lead to neuroinflammation and impaired blood-brain barrier, leading to neurodegeneration,” the study authors wrote.

Ultra-processed foods include products such as cakes, sugary cereals, baked goods, soft drinks, bacon, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, frozen pizzas and ready-to-eat or ready-to-eat meals. warm up.

During manufacturing, colors, flavors, emulsifiers and other additives may be added. As a result, many ultra-processed foods can be high in added sugars, salt and saturated fat. They may also be low in fiber, vitamins and nutritional value.

In the USA, 57% of adults’ daily energy intake comes from ultra-processed foods. Among young people, it is 67%.

More … than 73% Most of the food supply in the United States is ultra-processed foods.

A growing body Research has linked ultra-processed foods to heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

However, researchers in the new study said that once they took into account overall diet quality, the association of ultra-processed foods with death was less pronounced.

They said this suggests that diet quality may have a stronger influence.

The researchers say their study highlights that not all ultra-processed food products should be restricted. Instead, certain types of ultra-processed foods such as ready-to-eat meals made from meat, poultry and seafood could be limited, with emphasis placed on overall diet quality.

“Diet quality looks at the overall quality of a person’s diet,” said Dana Hunnes, PhD, a senior dietitian at RR-UCLA Medical Center in California, who was not involved in the study. ‘study. Medical news today. “Is it filled with processed and ultra-processed foods or is it filled with unprocessed foods such as whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, etc.? A good/high quality diet would be primarily unprocessed foods, primarily whole foods because they were grown from the ground, versus ultra-processed foods that are unrecognizable and have been stripped of their nutritional quality (sometimes added by enrichment) and therefore add calories and fat to the diet without the beneficial nutritional qualities of whole foods (including fiber).

“You can occasionally eat ultra-processed foods if 95 percent of what you eat is whole, unprocessed, good food quality foods,” Hunnes added. “Alternatively, you can eat a diet that is 90% ultra-processed/processed foods that don’t contain much fiber, are unrecognizable, and are of extremely poor dietary quality. Ultra-processed foods sometimes have their place in a healthy diet. We can’t be completely ascetic and eat 100% healthy all the time, it’s not 100% achievable 100% of the time. This is where the concept of food quality comes into play. Occasional ultra-processed foods are okay. But less is always more.

THE US Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends a healthy diet consisting of fruits, vegetables and whole grains as well as a variety of proteins, fat-free or low-fat milk and dairy products and foods low in cholesterol, trans fat, fat saturated and added sugar, and sodium.

Lauri Wright, PhD, president of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics who was not involved in the study, says that instead of buying ready-to-eat meals at the store, ready-made meals can be prepared at home. House.

“I would recommend preparing meals at home and making ready-to-eat meals from leftovers,” she said. Medical News Today.

The BMJ study is observational, so definitive conclusions cannot be drawn between cause and effect. The study authors say the classification system for ultra-processed foods does not adequately account for the complexity of food processing, meaning some items could be misclassified.

“Future studies are needed to improve the classification of ultra-processed foods and confirm our results in other populations,” the study authors write.