Overly-processed foods can raise the risk of type 2 diabetes

Author: Syed Mulazim Hussain Yasir

A study released in JAMA internal medicine indicates that the risk of type 2 diabetes may be increased by a diet high in overly-processed food (OPF).

The researchers included 104,707 participants aged 18 and older from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort (2009–2019) in this population-based prospective cohort sample.

Researchers collected data on dietary intake using daily 24-hour dietary records to monitor the normal consumption of respondents for over 3,500 various food products. These have been classified by the NOVA classification system according to their degree of processing.

And according to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, examples of what NOVA categorizes ultra-processed items include “carbonated soft drinks; short, fatty or salty packaged snacks; sweets (confectionery); mass-produced packaged breads and buns, cookies (biscuits), pastries, cakes and mixed cake; Sweetened cereals, fruit juice and energy drinks; cooked beef, milk, pasta and pizza dishes; poultry and fish nuggets and sticks; sausages, burgers, hot dogs and other reconstituted meat products; Fast soups, noodles and desserts powdered and packaged; formula for babies; and many other forms of items.

Over an average of six years of follow-up, there were 821 cases of type 2 diabetes. After accounting for age, sex, family history of diabetes, and many dietary and behavioral factors, the study found that the risk of diabetes increased by 13 percent for every absolute increase in dietary OPF by 10 percent. The risk of diabetes increased by 5% for every 100 g (3.5 oz) of the weight of OPF ingested.

The researchers found that “although these findings need to be checked in other populations and environments, they provide evidence to support public health authorities ‘ efforts to suggest that OPF use be limited.