Eating Ultraprocessed Foods Is Linked With Early Death, Study Says

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It’s not a secret that ultraprocessed foods make up a considerable part of the Western diet. In the United States, 61 percent of an adult’s total diet comes from ultraprocessed foods. That number is 62 percent in Canada, and 63 percent in the UK.

However, according to a recent study conducted by French researchers, for every 10 percent increase in the amount of ultraprocessed foods we eat, there is a 14 percent higher risk of early death.

Ultraprocessed Food: the Negative Effects

Ultraprocessed foods are defined as “manufactured industrially from multiple ingredients that usually include additives used for technological and/or cosmetic purposes,” wrote the authors of the study, published on Feb. 11 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.