Ready-to-eat-or-heat foods linked to premature death: Study

Low in essential nutrients and high in sugar, oil and salt; ultra-processed foods have taken over the aisles at supermarkets.

A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has found that the consumption of highly processed foods containing little or no whole food in their ingredients is associated with a higher risk of premature death.

These unhealthy ready-to-eat-or-heat foods include prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza, sodas, ice cream, hot dogs, sausages, and store-bought cookies, candies, cakes and doughnuts.

The research also reported that highly processed foods contributed to 57,000 premature deaths in Brazil in 2019. Study authors concluded that reducing consumption of UPFs by 10 per cent to 50 per cent could potentially prevent approximately 5,900 to 29,300 premature deaths in Brazil.

Also watch: Ultra-processed foods increase all-cause mortality risk by 26%: study