According To Research, Excessive Processed Foods Accelerate Biological Aging

Illustration of overprocessed food research accelerates biological aging (Freepic)

YOGYAKARTA How we eat, has an impact on our health or body condition over the next few years. As research findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it shows that excessive food consumption or ultra high processed food is associated with a significant acceleration of biological aging. This biological age, causes chronic disease and reduced life expectancy.

Overprocessed foods are different from fresh foods, or we know them as fresh food. Fresh food is very little processed and even more raw to maintain nutritional content in their ingredients. In contrast to overprocessed foods, which have low nutritional value. Research involves 22,000 adults in Italy. They consume a lot of overprocessed foods and relate to faster biological aging.

Biological age provides an accurate picture of the body's health rather than just a lifestyle choice, especially diet. Poor nutritional content in overprocessed foods does not contribute much to the body's nutritional needs. Therefore, researchers refer to this type of food as non-nutritional characteristics'. In this type of food, food matrix deconstruction is encouraged which refers to breaking whole food into isolated nutrients and harmful substances formed during food processing and long-term contact with unhealthy food packaging materials.

This study identified and classified the percentage of the total food consumed by participants every day. The classification of food consumed is broken down to five levels, from high to low. To assess the quality of the diet, the researchers used the Mediterranean Diet Pattern Score, which ranges from 0 to 9 points. The scores are based on more traditional Mediterranean diet food consumption such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, pods, and fish, while consuming less meat and milk, compared to the average level in the study group.

In data analysis, researchers used machine learning programs that observed 36 different blood biomarkers to determine the biological age of participants. Some blood markers include bloodpins as well as triglycerides and cholesterol, glucose metabolic markers such as blood glucose and insulin, plus inflammation markers such as the C-reactive protein. The body's biological age is measured on the basis of these markers, which turns out to be different by actual age related to daily foods.

Statistical methods are used to analyze age differences taking into account the known risk factors. The results of this study found foods that were overprocessed caused biological aging to be faster. The samples analyzed 11,726 women (52 percent) and 10,769 men (48 percent). Participants reported that ultraprocessed foods formed an average of 10.7% of their food weight, which contributed to 18.2% of their total calorie intake. The average chronological age of participants is 55.6 years, while their average biological age is 54.9 years. Thus, the age difference, the results obtained from biological age minus chronological age, is about 0.70 years.

In this Italian group of participants, foods that are processed are excessive and most often eaten daily, including processed meat (17.6 percent), pastries, and pastries (14.2 percent), as well as fruit drinks (10.9 percent). In an analysis adapted to several variables, researchers found that consumption of the highest ultra-process food (the top five) is associated with faster biological aging, increasing the average biological age of 0.34 years compared to the lowest consumption. Overall, a diet with more than 14 percent of the total calories of ultra-processed food is associated with accelerating biological aging, according to biological clocks that use 36 blood biomarkers.

According to doctor Thomas M. Holand, MD., MS., processing excessive food intensively disrupts the natural structure, or metrics, of whole food. Doctors as well as scientists who are not religious in the above studies, say foods are processed for overnutrition with low nutrition. Launching Medical News Today, Wednesday, November 27, in addition to low nutrition, it is clear that digestive health dietist Alyssa Simpson, RDN., CGN., CLT., processed eating disturbs the structure of nutrients and natural fibers. The effect is that microbial diversity is beneficial in the disordered intestines. This can cause impaired body's ability to process sugar, thus causing spikes in blood sugar and inflammation. Furthermore, changing gut microbiota and inflammatory response can accelerate the process of cell aging, increasing susceptibility to age-related diseases.