New research has shown that people who eat ultra-processed meals have greater anxiety and more “mentally unhealthy days” than those who don’t.
While ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are affordable and ready-to-eat, they contain little to no whole foods because they are made from oils, fats, sugars, starches and protein isolates. industrially produced proteins. The impacts of food group on a person’s physical health are well documented, but previously there was little data on their impact on people’s mental health.
A new study from Florida Atlantic University published in the journal Public Health Nutrition sampled more than 10,000 adults in the United States to measure the link between FPU consumption and mental health symptoms.
The researchers used a representative sample from the US National Health and Nutrition Survey between 2007 and 2012, settling on 10,359 adult participants with no history of drug use.
They also used the widely used NOVA food classification, which was recently adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
NOVA classifies foods and beverages into four groups: unprocessed or minimally processed foods, processed culinary components, processed foods and ultra-processed foods based on how they are processed.
The researchers looked at whether people who ate higher amounts of UPF were more likely to have moderate depression, days of poor mental health and anxiety per month.
They found that, compared to those who consumed the least, those who consumed the most UPF had statistically significant increases in negative mental health symptoms.
The group using the most were also the least likely to report that there were no days when they did not experience mentally unhealthy or anxious days.
The study researchers say that the results of this study are generally applicable to the entire United States as well as other Western countries with similar levels of consumption of ultra-processed foods.
Canadians consume nearly half of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods, according to a 2017 study conducted by the University of Montreal.
He also found that children between the ages of nine and 13 ate the most from the food group.
“More than 70% of packaged foods in the United States are classified as ultra-processed foods and account for approximately 60% of all calories consumed by Americans,” study co-author Eric Hecht said in a statement.
“Given the magnitude of exposure and effects of consuming ultra-processed foods, our study has important clinical and public health implications.”