These foods accelerate aging and make up more than 20% of the Spanish diet.
Spain is one of the countries with the best gastronomy, as well as one of the standard bearers of the more than healthy and recognized Mediterranean diet. Our quality dishes, recipes and products make Spain one of the best places in the world to eat well, both in terms of taste and health benefits. But be careful, because there is an enemy on the supermarket shelves that can worsen our diet and accelerate biological aging.
This is stated in a new Italian study published in a scientific journal. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It is concluded that regular consumption ultra-processed foods This is directly related to the marked acceleration of biological aging, a fact that has serious consequences for our overall health.
Despite the good reviews of Spanish gastronomy, it is worth noting that Spain is the second country in the entire Mediterranean with the highest percentage of consumption of ultra-processed foods. In fact, such dishes They make up 20.3% of the total diet. According to a prestigious and respected study conducted by the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, it is common among Spaniards.
What is ultra-processed food?
The first thing I wanted to do in the study was to determine what is ultraprocessing. To do this, the researchers used the NOVA classification, a system that classifies foods based on how processed they are, developed by the Center for Epidemiological Research in Health and Nutrition at the University of São Paulo.
Thus, they emphasized that ultra-processed food is an industrial recipe made from substances derived from food sources rather than “whole foods.” In addition, processed foods contain additives: they contain little or no whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, seeds, meat, fish, milk or eggs.
These products typically contain ingredients such as sugars, oils, fats, salt, antioxidants, stabilizers, preservatives, colors, flavor enhancers, emulsifiers and humectants. That is, most soft drinks, sweet or salty snacks, reconstituted meat products and frozen prepared meals are examples of ultra-processed foods.
Having defined what ultra-processed foods are, a team of researchers analyzed data collected in a famous study called Moli-Sani. This epidemiological investigation began in 2005 in the region of Molise, south-central Italy, and assessed environmental, genetic and biomolecular risk factors associated with chronic and degenerative diseases. Or, in other words, with accelerated biological aging.
Processed meat, most consumed
Modern researchers have used data from 22,000 Italian adultswho detailed their diet by selecting a menu of 188 common foods on their table. The team then analyzed physical parameters such as levels of cholesterol, blood glucose, insulin or certain proteins, as well as calorie consumption habits and known risk factors in all participants, who included 11,726 women (52%) and 10,769 men (48%) . ) with an average age of 55 years.
Data collected through surveys concluded that Participants consumed 18.2% ultra-processed foods daily. their normal caloric intake is 10.7% of their diet weight. Processed meats were the most common item (17.6%), followed by industrial baked goods (14.2%) and fruit drinks (10.9%).
Ultra-processed foods speed up aging
The study’s conclusion was clear: those diets that included more than 14% of calories from ultra-processed foods had direct connection with accelerated biological agingthrough parameters set in the “biological clock”, which is controlled by 36 different blood biomarkers.
Fun fact: the most common consumers of ultra-processed foods were people mainly younger, more educated, less active and more urban and, as a rule, do not suffer from chronic diseases. But this fact does not at all indicate that higher consumption is good for health, but predicts faster and poorer aging of this generation.
Why are ultra-processed foods bad for your health?
Ultra-processed foods prepared through an industrial process typically result in a loss of food quality due to the breakdown of whole foods that make up recipes into nutrients isolated from low or no nutritional value.
In addition, during the formation of these dishes, harmful substances are also formed, which ultimately enter the consumer’s body. Not to mention the numerous additives, many of them “dangerous,” that are commonly found in most highly processed foods.
The researchers behind the study also note that prolonged contact with packaging materials, which are generally harmful to health and pollute the environment, is another option that affects the final quality of food and its negative impact on consumer health.
In general, ultra-processed foods contain high amounts of sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, and additives; however, they do not contain the fiber, micronutrients and bioactive compounds that we find in whole or natural foods. All this leads to continued wear and tear of various parts.organs or systems of the body, which leads to the gradual deterioration of many biomarkers, which ultimately leads to accelerated aging of our body.