New research from Monash University has found that overeating ultra-processed foods may speed up the biological process.
Published in the journal Age and Ageing, the study showed an association between increased consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) and biological ageing. For every 10 per cent increase in UPF consumption, the gap between biological and chronological age rose by 2.4 months.
UPFs include foods such as chips, carbonated drinks, instant noodles, ice cream, chocolate, biscuits, ready-to-eat meals, sausages, burgers, chicken and fish nuggets, sweet or savoury packaged snacks and energy bars.
First author Dr Barbara Cardoso, from Monash University’s Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food and Monash Victorian Heart Institute, said the findings underlined the importance of eating as many unprocessed and minimally processed foods as possible.
Dr Cardoso said the association between UPFs and markers of biological ageing was under-investigated, despite the obvious adverse health effects of these foods.
“The significance of our findings is tremendous, as our predictions show that for every 10 per cent increase in ultra-processed food consumption there is a nearly two per cent increased risk of mortality and 0.5 per cent risk of incident chronic disease over two years,” she said
“Assuming a standard diet of 2,000 calories (8500 kilojoules) per day, adding an extra 200 calories of ultra-processed food, which roughly equals an 80-gram serving of chicken bites or a small chocolate bar, could lead to the biological ageing process advancing by more than two months compared to chronological ageing.”
