Prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza, prepared meals, hot dogs, sausages, drinks, ice cream, and commercially produced cookies, cakes, sweets, and doughnuts are a few examples of Ultra-Processed Foods.

Ultra-processed foods, which are ready-to-eat or heated industrial formulas made with ingredients extracted from foods or made in labs, are slowly replacing traditional foods and meals made with fresh, minimally processed ingredients in many countries.

New research published by Elsevier in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine discovered that a higher intake of these food products was associated with more than 10% of all premature, preventable deaths in Brazil in 2019, despite the fact that Brazilians eat far less of these products than people in high-income countries.

Lead researcher Eduardo A.F. Nilson, ScD, Center for Epidemiological Research in Nutrition and Health, University of So Paulo, and Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil, said: “Previous modelling studies have estimated the health and economic burden of critical ingredients, such as sodium, sugar and trans fats, and specific foods or drinks, such as sugar sweetened beverages. 

“To our knowledge, no study to date has estimated the potential impact of UPFs on premature deaths. Knowing the deaths attributable to the consumption of these foods and modeling how changes in dietary patterns can support more effective food policies might prevent disease and premature deaths.”

Dr. Nilson and colleagues estimated baseline intakes of UPFs by gender and age group using data from nationally representative dietary surveys. Using data from 2019, statistical studies were conducted to determine the proportion of total deaths attributed to UPF consumption and the impact of reducing UPF consumption by 10%, 20%, and 50% within these age categories.

UPF consumption in Brazil throughout the study period ranged from 13% to 21% of total dietary intake across all age categories and sex divisions. In 2019, there were 541,260 premature deaths among individuals aged 30 to 69, of which 261,061 were caused by preventable, noncommunicable diseases. The model discovered that almost 57,000 fatalities that year, or 10.5% of all premature deaths and 21.8% of all deaths from avoidable noncommunicable diseases in individuals aged 30 to 69, could be linked to the intake of UPFs. The researchers hypothesized that the estimated impact would be considerably greater in high-income nations like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, where UPFs make up more than half of total calorie intake.

Dr. Nilson said that traditional whole foods like rice and beans have been slowly replaced by UPFs in Brazil over time. It may take a variety of interventions and public health measures, such as fiscal and regulatory policies, changing the food environment, stepping up the implementation of food-based dietary guidelines, and enhancing consumer knowledge, attitudes, and behavior, to reduce the consumption of UPFs and promote healthier food options.

In Brazil, reducing UPF consumption by 10% to 50% might potentially avoid 5,900 to 29,300 early deaths annually.

“Consumption of UPFs is associated with many disease outcomes, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, some cancers, and other diseases, and it represents a significant cause of preventable and premature deaths among Brazilian adults,” added Dr. Nilson. “Even reducing consumption of UPFs to the levels of just a decade ago would reduce associated premature deaths by 21%. Policies that disincentivize the consumption of UPFs are urgently needed.”

Having a tool to figure out how many deaths are caused by eating UPFs can help countries figure out how hard it is for their diets to change because of how food is processed in factories. This can help them come up with more effective food policy options to promote healthier food environments.

Prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza, prepared meals, hot dogs, sausages, drinks, ice cream, and commercially produced cookies, cakes, sweets, and doughnuts are a few examples of UPFs.

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