Children who eat more ultra-processed food gain weight more quickly, study suggests

The researchers also found that highly processed foods – including frozen pizzas, carbonated beverages, mass-produced bread, and some ready-made meals – make up a very high proportion of children’s diets – more than 60% of calories on average.

“One of the most important things we’re discovering here is a dose-response relationship,” said Dr. Eszter Vamos, a senior clinical lecturer in public health medicine at Imperial College London and author of the study, which was published in JAMA Pediatrics on Monday, in a press release.

“This means that not only the children who eat the most processed foods have the worst weight gain, but the more they eat, the worse it gets,” Vamos said.

Industrial food processing modifies food to change its texture, taste, color and shelf life, using mechanical or chemical alterations to make it tastier, cheaper, more appealing and more convenient – processes that do not occur with homemade meals, noted the study. Highly processed foods tend to be more energetic and poor in nutrients.

They’re often high in sugar, salt, and saturated fats, but low in protein, fiber, and micronutrients, and they’re being aggressively marketed by the food industry, the study said.

Gunter Kuhnle, a professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading in the UK, said the relationship between children’s health and highly processed foods is complex and socio-economic factors likely play a large role. He was not involved in the investigation.

“The results of this study aren’t surprising: children who consume a lot of ‘ultra-processed’ foods are most likely to be less healthier and more obese than their lower-consumption peers. “He told the Science Media Center in London.

“The results of the study are strongly disproved by socio-economic factors: children who live in less-favored areas and come from families with lower educational levels and lower socio-economic status consumed the highest intake of highly processed foods. Unfortunately, these children are also at the highest risk of obesity and ill health as there are still significant health inequalities in the UK and socioeconomic status is a major health factor. “

The researchers tracked a group of 9,000 children, ages 7 to 24, who participated in a broader study. At the age of 7, 10 and 13 years, food diaries were created in which the food and drink intake of the children was recorded over three days. Measurements of body mass index (BMI), weight, waist circumference and body fat were also collected during the study period.

The children were divided into five groups based on how much highly processed foods they ate. In the lowest group, highly processed foods made up one fifth of their total diet, while in the highest group they made up more than two thirds.

On average, the researchers found that children in the groups who consumed more highly processed foods had faster increases in their BMI, weight, waist size, and body fat as they got older.

By the age of 24, people in the highest group had, on average, a 1.2 kg / m2 higher BMI, 1.5% higher body fat, 3.7 kg (8 pounds) higher, and 3 , 1 cm (1.2 in) increased waist.

While the study shows a link between consuming highly processed foods and increases in BMI and body fat, it doesn’t definitely show cause and effect.

“The problem is that children who ate different amounts of ultra-processed foods by the age of 7 and their families would have differed in other ways, not just in how much ultra-processed foods they ate,” said Kevin McConway , a professor emeritus of applied statistics at the Open University who was not involved in the study, told the SMC. “The associations between body fat measurements and consumption of ultra-processed foods could be caused by these other differences and not by consumption of ultra-processed foods.”

The researchers used statistical adjustments to account for other factors that might explain the association, such as gender, ethnicity, birth weight, and physical activity, McConway said. That “increased confidence in the causes of the differences between groups,” he said.

Previous studies on the same topic had yielded conflicting results, but they involved fewer children and short follow-up times, the researchers said.

According to the researchers, more radical and effective measures are needed to reduce child exposure and consumption of highly processed foods.

source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/children-who-eat-more-ultra-processed-food-gain-weight-more-quickly-study-suggests/