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Ultra-processed, ready-to-eat foods like hot dogs, frozen pizzas, and doughnuts maylead to premature death, researchers in Brazil found in a recently-published study. The findings were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Ultra processed foods have long been associated with an increased risk of diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, the researchers said, so they wanted to take things a step further and see how the foods may be linked to premature death.they did a comparative risk assessment, or a simulation of the impact of a risk factor on health.

In 2019, over 500,000 adults aged 30 to 69 died. The consumption of ultra processed foods was responsible for about 57,000 premature deaths among that group, or 10.5%. The team was "conservative" in its estimations, so the impact could be much higher, Nilson  said. 

Based on their model and calculations, ultra processed foods made up 13% to 21% of the total energy intake among Brazilian adults.

Ultra-processed foods include packaged baked goods and snacks, fizzy drinks, sugary cereals, ready meals containing food additives, dehydrated vegetable soups, and reconstituted meat and fish products -- often containing high levels of added sugar, fat, and/or salt, but lacking in vitamins and fibre. They are thought to account for around 25-60% of daily energy intake in many countries.

Ultra processed food is industrialized, "ready to eat and ready to eat". They often have very little fresh ingredients and have lots of starches, processed proteins, and food additives.They are usually very high in sugar, salt and fat, all of which promote systemic inflammation, perhaps the most major threat to healthy aging in the body and brain.

The researchers used national food consumption data in Brazil from 2017 to 2018, as well as demographic and mortality data from 2019. The team also looked at data and health risks from other studies to estimate how many deaths were attributable to eating ultra processed foods.

The team took things a step further by estimating what would happen to the Brazilian population if people reduce how many ultra processed foods they consume.They found if people cut their ultra processed food consumption 20％, anywhere from 5,900 to 29,300 deaths could be prevented.

The researchers say further work is needed to better understand these effects, and a direct (causal) link remains to be established, but they call for policies that promote consumption of fresh or minimally processed foods over highly processed foods.

And these foods are often consumed most by people from low-income communities because they're worried about how much they can afford. "Processed foods are cheaper than fresh foods and they are more accessible." people said.

It's the same thing seen in the U.S. and other countries where Black, Latino, and immigrant populations have less access to healthy foods, he said.

"Policy makers should shift their priorities away from food reformulation -- which risks positioning ultra-processed food as a solution to dietary problems -- towards a greater emphasis on promoting the availability, affordability, and accessibility of unprocessed or minimally processed foods." they conclude.