Eating more ultra-processed foods may increase children’s risk for cardiometabolic issues
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Key takeaways:
- Children who ate more ultra-processed foods had more health risks.
- The findings emphasize a need for public health initiatives to educate vulnerable populations on these risks, according to one of the authors.
High ultra-processed food consumption in young children is associated with adiposity and other cardiometabolic risk factors, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
One of the authors told Healio that the epidemiological evidence on cardiometabolic health in children is still “limited and controversial.”
“Ultra-processed food consumption in children is increasing worldwide and has become a major public health concern,” Nancy E. Babio, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Rovira i Virgili in Spain, told Healio.
“In our research group, we have already evaluated the associations between dietary quality and cardiometabolic risk factors, and we have also evaluated the plant-based products available on the market compared with animal products in terms of their nutritional composition and profile, and the degree of processing,” Babio said. “Previous studies did not include some of the cardiometabolic risk factors we evaluated.”
Babio and colleagues pulled data from the Spain-based Childhood Obesity Risk Assessment Longitudinal (CORAL) study, which recruited preschool children in seven cities and followed them as they grew. The researchers assessed the energy-adjusted ultra processed food consumption in grams per day from food frequency questionnaires, which were based on the NOVA food classification system. Using these numbers they then estimated age-and sex-specific z scores of adiposity and cardiometabolic parameters, such as BMI, fat mass index, blood pressure and triglycerides.
They divided the cohort of 1,426 children (mean age, 5.8 years; 49% boys) into three levels of energy-adjusted ultra-processed food consumption, with the first and lowest group having a baseline mean daily measurement of 192.8 g, increasing to 354.8 g for the second group and 593.4 g for the third group.
The percentage of children with obesity was 17.5% in the first group, 20.9% in the second group and 25% in the third group. The third group also had the highest average fat mass index at 3.97 kg/m2, systolic blood pressure at 104 mm Hg and triglycerides at 56 mg/dL.
Mean increments in energy-adjusted ultra-processed food consumption were associated with higher z scores for BMI ( coefficient, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.05-0.17), waist circumference ( coefficient, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.02-0.15), fat mass index ( coefficient, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.04-1.18), and fasting plasma glucose ( coefficient, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.03-0.17) and lower HDL cholesterol ( coefficient, 0.07; 95% CI, 0.15 to 0.00).
Additionally, the researchers found that children whose mothers had a low education level had higher z scores of waist circumference (B coefficient = 0.14; 95% CI, 0.05-0.23), fat mass index (B coefficient = 0.15; 95% CI, 0.06-0.25), BMI (B coefficient = 0.15; 95% CI, 0.06-0.24), and fasting plasma glucose (B coefficient = 0.11; 95% CI, 0.02-0.19).
“Children of mothers with lower education levels or from lower socioeconomic backgrounds tend to consume more ultra-processed food, making them more susceptible to future health problems,” Babio said. “This emphasizes the need for targeted public health initiatives aimed at vulnerable populations.”
Babio added that the findings also “provide new insight into the relationship between ultra-processed food consumption and its potential adverse health effects at such a young age,” and said she is interested in further prospective studies with a long period of follow-up to validate the investigation’s results.
“Although the magnitude of the associations found could be considered of limited clinical relevance, it is important to note that our study was composed of very young children from the general population, and yet a significant association of their consumption with these parameters was evident,” Babio said. “This should serve as an early warning of what may occur in the future. Therefore, it is important to recognize the importance of early dietary habits and their potential future impact on cardiometabolic health.”
For more information:
Nancy E. Babio, PhD, can be reached at nancy.babio@urv.cat.
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