While it’s known that eating large amounts of processed food isn’t great for health outcomes, a recent study by Monash University reveals that a diet high in these food choices is associated with the leaky gut syndrome and an increased risk of kidney disease.
There is a growing body of evidence that processed foods are detrimental to health with processed food consumption being associated with the risk of all-cause mortality, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cancer and gastrointestinal diseases.
However, experts say that understanding the mechanisms by which processed foods impact health is in its infancy, which makes this recent study important in providing insight into how processed foods contribute to poor health outcomes.
Published in Science Advances, the rodent-based study led by Associate Professor Melinda Coughlan from Monash Central Clinical School, revealed that certain harmful chemical compounds called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs), triggered by a process called the Maillard reaction, switch on the body’s danger signals leading to an inflammatory response and chronic kidney disease.
The study also showed that by introducing foods containing resistant starch, the effects can be improved.
“Given the increasing interest in the effects of processed food on health, we believe that these findings represent an important step towards understanding and countering the detrimental features of the modern diet,” says Associated Professor Coughlan.
“Dietary change, as with most behaviour change, can be difficult to maintain long term, but by adding more foods high in resistant starch fibre and [by incorporating] steaming and stewing cooking practices we can help to dampen the harmful effects.”
Where are AGEs found?
Reportedly, AGEs are found in heat-treated or processed food and are what gives browned, roasted, fried, grilled and baked foods their flavour and aroma.
The compounds also add flavour and lead to the palatability and sensory properties of food, which is why it has been said that food chemists have been isolating these chemical compounds and placing them in some of our favourite processed foods such as potato chips, bread, bakery products, chocolate and sweets.
Foods high in resistant starch fibre
As discussed above, this study showed that the inflammatory response produced by AGEs may be switched off by introducing foods containing high resistant starch fibre, restoring gut health and improving kidney health.
It’s said that foods high in resistant starch fibre include oats, cooked and cooled rice, barley, beans and legumes, raw potato starch (as a supplement), cooked and cooled potatoes, hi-maize resistant starch supplement.
These foods are said to be important because they get down into your lower gut and serve as food for your gut bacteria, which ferments this food, producing metabolites that are anti-inflammatory.
For more information and to read the study, visit: advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/14/eabe4841.
