For some years now, the scientific output on ultra-processed foods has been enormous. Many studies have shown associations between the consumption of these products and various diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, cancer, mental disorders, etc., as well as mortality. In fact, several 'umbrella' reviews of all these studies have been published in recent months, drawing unequivocal conclusions. On the one hand, the consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with poorer health and, on the other hand, there is no evidence to show that ultra-processed foods can be healthy. 

The only evidence suggesting that ultra-processed foods may have some benefit comes from a study that investigated the association of these foods with multimorbidity, in particular, the co-existence of at least two chronic diseases in an individual between cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. That study found that consumption of some subcategories of ultra-processed foods, such as cereals, breads and vegetable-based products, were not associated with these comorbidities. Although the study did not make associations with these individual diseases, it highlighted the need to study subcategories of ultra-processed foods. 

In this regard, the study now published investigates the relationship of 9 subcategories of ultra-processed foods, which had previously been classified as such using the NOVA system. The study collected consumption data from more than 100,000 health professionals from two of the largest research cohorts of the last decades. 

The most relevant results show the association between the intake of these subcategories of ultra-processed foods and mortality from various diseases. Ready-to-eat meat, poultry and seafood products showed the strongest and most consistent associations, followed by sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages, and dairy desserts. No subcategories could be robustly associated with a reduction in mortality risk for the diseases studied, with the exception of 'snacks and sweet packaged desserts'. Consumption of these products was associated with small reductions of 6-7% in mortality from cancer and cardiovascular disease, which is explained by the presence of dark chocolate and chocolate with nuts in this subcategory. In contrast, consumption of snacks and sweet packaged desserts was associated with an 18% increased risk of mortality from neurodegenerative diseases.  

Like all studies, this one also has its limitations. In addition to being an observational study and therefore precluding the establishment of causal relationships, I think the most important shortcoming is that the food consumption questionnaires were not specifically designed to measure ultra-processed food consumption. This is because, at the time of the study's inception, these products had not been defined as such. Therefore, it is possible that the results could have been different, which calls for prospective research from this point onwards.  

In any case, this is the first large study to associate consumption of subcategories of ultra-processed products with mortality from certain diseases. The main conclusion is that, while there are differences between groups of ultra-processed foods, they are all associated with increases in total mortality and mortality due to different diseases, supporting the current evidence for reducing ultra-processed foods in the population. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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