Eating ultra-processed foods amplifies risk for developing type 2 diabetes
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Adults who eat larger quantities of ultra-processed foods are at greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes compared with those who eat smaller quantities, according to findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“This research adds weight to the existing body evidence for the associations between ultra-processed foods and human health, supporting nutritional guidelines and policies in some countries, such as France and Brazil, now officially recommending to limit the consumption of ultra-processed foods and to privilege unprocessed or minimally processed foods,” Bernard Srour, PharmD, PhD, postdoctoral researcher of the nutritional epidemiology research team, and Mathilde Touvier, MPH, PhD, head of the nutritional epidemiology research team, at Inserm, Inrae, at the University of Paris, told Healio. “More mechanistic and experimental research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying these associations.”
Srour, Touvier and colleagues examined 24-hour dietary records at 6-month intervals across 2 years from 104,707 adults in the NutriNet-Santé study (mean age, 42.7 years; 79.2% women). The researchers used these data to quantify how much ultra-processed food each participate ate. Type 2 diabetes was self-reported at 3-month intervals for a median of 6 years.
Among the entire cohort, 821 adults developed type 2 diabetes, including 166 per 100,000 person-years among those who ate the most ultra-processed foods ( 21.9% of daily diet for men, 21.5% or more for women) and 113 per 100,000 person-years among those who ate the least ( 10.8% of daily diet for men, 10.6% for women). The researchers found that the risk for type 2 diabetes was 15% greater when ultra-processed food consumption rose by 10 percentage points (HR = 1.15; 95% CI, 1.06-1.25) and 5% greater when eating 100 g more per day of ultra-processed foods (HR = 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02-1.08). The researchers noted that including all adjustments did not affect the results. In addition, there was a 9% reduction in type 2 diabetes risk when unprocessed or minimally processed food consumption rose by 10 percentage points (HR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.84-0.98).
“We advise people to limit their consumption of ultra-processed foods and privilege unprocessed or minimally processed foods, of course, in addition to a nutritionally healthy diet low in salt, sugar, fat and energy density; an optimal BMI; and healthy lifestyle behaviors,” Srour said. – by Phil Neuffer
For more information:
Bernard Srour, PharmD, PhD, can be reached at b.srour@eren.smbh.univ-paris13.fr.
Disclosure: Srour and Touvier report no relevant financial disclosures.
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Srour B, et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2019;doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.5942.
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