Drinking Highly Processed Foods are ready-made or require minimal preparation of food products. They occupy most of the shelves in supermarkets. These are all kinds of baked goods, sugar-coated cereals, chips, and other “quick snacks”, processed foods and meat products, bagged soups, carbonated drinks and the like. The notorious fast food is just the tip of this iceberg. It has already been proven that addiction to such food is fraught with hypertension, high blood cholesterol, premature aging, and even cancer (this is especially true for breast cancer).
How harmful are such products?
There have been previous studies showing a link between highly processed foods and health problems. However, until now there has been no review that has comprehensively assessed the evidence in this area.
This time, the researchers combined 45 different meta-analyses from 14 review articles. The total number of study participants is about 10 million people. The researchers also used a combination of questionnaires about 24-hour food intake and general dietary history.
As it turned out, frequent consumption of highly processed foods is associated with an increased risk of developing 32 diseases. Thus, it has been proven that the chance of death from cardiovascular diseases increases by 50% if a person abuses such food.
The risk of developing anxiety or another mental disorder also increases by 48-53%. The risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases by 12%. Finally, such a diet is almost guaranteed to lead to obesity and related health problems.
Simply put, a large amount of processed foods in the diet is harmful to the body as a whole.
For a month, two groups of 20 volunteers were given varied meals three times a day (plus snacks), allowing them to eat as much as they wanted. The only difference between the groups was that one group’s diet consisted of processed foods, while the other group’s diet consisted of only minimally cooked foods. Relatively speaking, if some ate sausages, burgers, and nuggets, then others ate “real” meat and chicken. At the same time, the diets were identical in energy value (calorie content), macronutrients (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates), amount of sugar, salt, and fiber. And the subjects claimed that dishes from both lists were equally tasty.
Two weeks after the start of the experiment, the groups changed menus: those who ate refined food switched to regular food, and vice versa. This cross-over study increases the validity of the results since each participant is studied in both directions. So, when the subjects ate processed foods, they consumed an average of 508 kilocalories more daily. In two weeks, of eating this way, they gained an average of 0.9 kilograms. And in two weeks, of eating whole foods, they lost the same 0.9 kilograms. “Our data show that eliminating processed foods from the diet reduces energy intake and leads to weight loss, whereas a diet high in processed foods increases energy intake and leads to weight gain.