September 11, 2024 – You can have been warned that highly processed foods can harm your health. But not all are the identical.
A brand new study from The Lancet Regional Health – Americas examined various forms of highly processed foods and located that a few of them even carry a lower risk for Cardiovascular diseases, Coronary heart diseaseAnd stroke.
“Avoiding all ultra-processed foods is not practical for most people,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist, public health scientist and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University. “So it's helpful to understand which foods within the category of total processing might be more or less harmful.”
Researchers analyzed food questionnaires from three large groups of American adultswith the general public of their study being white and feminine. The study found that sugary and artificially sweetened beverages and processed meats were related to a better risk of heart problems and coronary heart disease. However, cereals, savory snacks, and yogurt and milk-based desserts were related to a lower risk of those diseases. Ultra-processed cereals and breads were also related to a lower risk of stroke.
“We know that sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with metabolic disorders, such as higher glucose levels, Insulin resistancevisceral obesity, Prediabetes, diabetesAnd higher triglycerides,” said Ashish Sarraju, MD, a cardiologist on the Cleveland Clinic. “Added sugar, which is associated with all of these things, is in turn a risk factor for heart disease.” Sugar-sweetened beverages often contain very high levels of sugar, artificial colours and other additives and almost “nothing beneficial” when it comes to ingredients, Mozaffarian said. “They are also consumed very quickly in very high doses.”
Processed meat has 400% higher salt content than unprocessed meat, Mozaffarian said. It also accommodates high levels of added Nitratesthat are carcinogenic and may damage the guts and blood vessels. Certain highly processed foods comparable to bacon are sometimes fried at extremely high temperatures, which flammable connections.
“When you put together the pro-inflammatory effects, the salt and the nitrates, this is a package of foods that can really cause harm,” said Mozaffarian. The World Health Organization has also classified He identified that processed meat (bacon, ham, salami) is a Group 1 carcinogen.
“Processed meat typically accommodates high levels of saturated fat, sodium and preservatives, which increase blood pressure, promote inflammation and negatively affect cholesterol levels, resulting in a better risk of coronary heart disease, said Joseph A. Daibes, DO, an interventional cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital. “The study underscores the importance of limiting these types of foods to reduce cardiovascular risk.”
But considering that breakfast cereals — albeit in highly processed form — are top-of-the-line sources of whole grains for Americans, it is sensible that they might be linked to a lower risk of heart disease, Mozaffarian says.
“They contain fiber, bran, whole grains, but also sugar and additives,” he said. “But on average, when you put all of those things together, this study suggests that the net effect is beneficial. That's not to say they couldn't be more beneficial if we processed them less, but they don't appear to be harmful.”
The energetic Probiotics and the fermentation in yogurt could make it a healthy snack, as there’s a growing body of research showing that fermented foods with probiotics are good for heart health and forestall metabolic diseases, or quite a few conditions that may increase the danger of stroke, heart disease and sort 2 diabetes, Mozaffarian said.
Savory snacks, cereals and yogurt- and milk-based desserts may contain fewer calories than sugary drinks and processed meat, Daibes said.
“In addition, the type of fat used in savory snacks and the presence of probiotics in yogurt may have neutral or even beneficial effects on heart health, unlike the harmful fats and additives found in many highly processed foods,” he said.
How highly processed foods can harm your health
Daibes said there are “clear and concerning associations” between consuming ultra-processed foods and heart disease. “In clinical practice, it's a pretty clear and unambiguous association – patients who tend to eat poorer diets and consume more ultra-processed and nutrient-poor foods tend to have worse health outcomes, both cardiovascular and otherwise,” he said.
Processing food is all about breaking down the natural structures of the food and stripping it of its natural nutrients, Mozaffarian explained. When you insert the word “ultra,” it refers back to the addition of commercial additives.
“I think refined starches (like wheat, corn and rice) and sugars are some of the most harmful because they cause a sharp rise in blood sugar levels,” Mozaffarian said. “But these refined starches and sugars are also digested so quickly in the stomach and small intestine that the gut bacteria in the large intestine starve.”
Many “healthy ingredients,” comparable to fermentable fiber and bioactive compounds, are present in unprocessed whole foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans and seeds, Mozaffarian noted. Another cause for concern is the high salt content in ultra-processed foods, in addition to other additives comparable to artificial flavors, sweeteners and thickeners.
Choose whole foods
There could also be individuals who wish to eat cleaner, unprocessed foods, however the high cost and lack of access to those foods could cause problems. Sarraju advises his patients to easily do their best to eat foods of their whole ingredient and avoid processed foods as much as possible.