SNACK ATTACK
Full list of 32 health dangers lurking in your favourite foods – from cancer to lung issues and early death
Plus, how to recognise an ultra-processed food
JUNK food is linked to over 30 illnesses and can increase your risk of early death, research claims.
Australian scientists found ultra-processed foods (UPF) like ready meals and fizzy drinks have been linked to cancer, heart problems, type 2 diabetes and anxiety.
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Dr Charlotte Gupta, of Central Queensland University in Australia, said: “We know these foods aren’t considered ‘healthy’, but this sheds new light on how damaging they can be.”
Other UPFs include sausages, crisps, breakfast cereals, sweets and chocolate.
Study authors from Deakin University are now calling for more public health measures to stop people from scoffing so many unhealthy snacks.
Their research involved looking at the health data and diets of almost 10 million people from 14 separate studies.
Read more on junk food
Likening the foods to cigarettes, they said "public policies and actions are essential" to stop lower intake.
They called public health officials to urgently develop guidelines and "best practices" for ultra-processed foods.
In an editorial attached to the paper, scientists from the University of São Paulo, Brazil suggest foods are clearly labelled when "ultra-processed".
The team found that the chances of dying from heart disease shot up by 50 per cent among people who ate lots of unhealthy foods.
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The risk of developing type 2 diabetes also rose 12 per cent alongside higher junk food quantities, researchers wrote in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
The likelihood of developing anxiety was up to 53 per cent higher in the people who ate the most UPFs.
They also found evidence to suggest junk foods can increase the risk of depression, sleep issues, asthma, Crohn’s disease and certain cancers.
UPFs refer to items which contain ingredients people would not usually add when cooking homemade food.
These additions might include chemicals, colourings, sweeteners and preservatives that extend shelf life.
They are usually low in vitamins and fibre.
Lead author Dr Melissa Lane said: "These findings support urgent mechanistic research and public health actions that seek to target and minimise ultra-processed food consumption for improved population health."
Prof Amelia Lake, from Teesside University, called the research "important" and said it would help "shape future research and policy direction around ultra-processed foods and our population health.”
However, some scientists have criticised the paper and also doubted the claim that UPFs are intrinsically bad.
The statistics are staggering
Dr Daisy Coyle
Most of the links between the foods and health conditions in the study area have a weak strength, with only diabetes, obesity, prostate cancer, and all-cause mortality having a “moderate” quality rating.
Dr Duane Mellor, from Aston University, said the statistical methodology of the study leaves it open to flaws, and “the findings of this analysis might not represent what the real effect actually is.
“The results reported in this paper could be a significant over- or underestimate of the true associated link between ultra-processed foods and health."
Gunter Kuhnle, from Reading University, said that some of the claims made in the study are exaggerated.
“My worry with the paper is that fairly weak evidence is pushed in a way to make it seem that urgent action is required when in reality, a large number of nutrition scientists (including the Government’s advisory panel) do not think that urgent action is required,” they said.
But Dr Daisy Coyle, from the George Institute for Global Health in London, said the study “highlights a troubling reality” about the risks of UPFs.
“The statistics are staggering – these foods may double your risk of dying from heart disease or from developing a mental health disorder,” she said.
Full list of 32 health dangers lurking in your favourite foods
Research has tied ultraprocessed food consumption to a slew of health conditions.
This is because they often contain high levels of saturated fat, salt and sugar and when we eat them, we leave less room in our diets for more nutritious foods.
It’s also been suggested that the additives in these foods could be responsible for negative health effects.
Some of the health risks include:
- All-cause death
- Cancer-related death
- Cardiovascular disease-related death
- Heart disease-related death
- Breast cancer
- Cancer (overall)
- Central nervous system tumours
- Leukaemia
- Colorectal cancer
- Panceratic cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Sleep issues
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Other mental health conditions
- Asthma
- Wheezing
- Cardiovascular disease events ie, heart attack, heart failure
- Cardiovascular disease death
- Hypertension
- Hypertriglyceridemia
- Low HDL cholesterol
- Crohn's disease
- Ulcerative colitis
- Obesity
- Hyperglycemia
- Metabolic syndrome
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Obesity
- Being overweight
- Being overweight & obese
- Type 2 diabetes
Source: BMJ
Another study found drinking one glass of Coke a day could boost your chances of deadly kidney disease by a fifth.
The authors, from Yonsei University in South Korea, suggested people switch to fruit juices instead.
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Meanwhile, scientists from Liverpool University found that putting calories on restaurant menus may stop 730 early deaths between 2022 and 2041.
In April 2022, the government forced all large restaurants and takeaways to slap food-calorie labels to stop Brits from getting fat.
What’s the difference between processed and ultra-processed?
MORE than half the calories the average person in the UK eats come from ultra-processed foods
Research has linked these foods to early death and poor health.
But there's a lot of confusion over what ultra-processed food is.
Here's everything you need to know...
Ultra-processed foods usually contain ingredients you wouldn’t add when cooking homemade food.
You may not recognise the names of these ingredients as many will be chemicals, colourings, sweeteners and preservatives. Think ready meals, breakfast cereals and sausages.
Meanwhile, processed foods are usually made using fewer ingredients. The main purpose of processing these foods is to give them a longer life or enhance their taste.
Some processed foods include smoked and cured whole meats (like Parma ham), cheeses, fresh bread, bacon, salted or sugared nuts, tinned fruit in syrup, beer and wine.
And then, there are unprocessed and minimally processed foods.
Unprocessed foods include fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, beans, pulses and natural animal products such as eggs, fish, milk and unprocessed meat.
Minimally processed foods may have been dried, crushed, roasted, frozen, boiled or pasteurised but contain no added ingredients.
They include frozen fruits and vegetables, frozen fish, pasteurised milk, 100 per cent fruit juice, no-added-sugar yoghurt, spices and dried herbs.
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