Stay off processed meats such as sausages and soft drinks, advices American Society of Nutrition

Some processed foods, the society said in a statement, may have a great association with mortality risk than others

While the risks of ultra processed foods are well known, some of them may be more harmful than others. The American Society of Nutrition has identified sausages, hot dogs and deli meat as some of the more harmful products in the ultraprocessed category. 

The findings were presented at NUTRITION 2024, the flagship annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition held in Chicago earlier this month. The findings are based on a large study that has tracked over half a million U.S. adults for nearly three decades. According to the results, higher intake of ultra-processed foods was associated with modest increases in death from any cause and from deaths related specifically to heart disease or diabetes, but no association was found for cancer-related deaths.

“Our study results support a larger body of literature, including both observational and experimental studies, which indicate that ultra-processed food intake adversely impacts health and longevity,” said Erikka Loftfield, PhD, Stadtman Investigator at the National Cancer Institute. “However, there is still a lot that we don’t know, including what aspects of ultra-processed foods pose potential health risks.”

According to a recent 30-year study published in The BMJ, ultraprocessed foods such as (but not limited to) sweetened breakfast ‘cereals’ and fruit yoghurt and ‘energy’ drinks; pre-prepared meat, cheese, pasta and pizza can shorten a person’s life. 

The present research drew data from more than 540,000 people who provided information about their eating habits and health in the mid-1990s, when they were between 50 and 71 years of age. Over half of the participants have since died. The researchers analyzed overall rates of death among those who were in the 90th percentile for consumption of ultra-processed foods at baseline versus those in the 10th percentile, and also looked at associations with specific foods and specific diseases.