Ultra – Uaetodaynews

Ultra-processed foods have recently gained a lot of attention, including a new UNICEF report that found school-age children now have obesity rather than being underweight, primarily because ultra-processed foods are replacing traditional diets. In response, some states, like California, have banned them in schools, and a new “Non-UPF seal” has been introduced to help shoppers easily identify foods that aren’t classified as “ultra-processed” in stores. This might seem like overkill — until you learn about new studies, such as the latest one out of Mass General Brigham, which suggests that the ultra-processed foods you consume, the higher your risk of early-onset colorectal cancer.

In November, researchers from Harvard published their findings on the link between ultra-processed foods and adenomas, which are masses of cells that are precursors to colorectal cancer, in the journal JAMA Oncology.

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To understand how ultra-processed foods influence potential cancer rates, the team examined data from than 29,000 female nurses under the age of 50 who underwent a lower endoscopy, a procedure that inspects the lining of the lower gastrointestinal tract, including the colon, and who also completed dietary surveys every four years. The researchers used these surveys to estimate their average daily intake of ultra-processed foods.

The team found that those in the top 20% of consumers of ultraprocessed foods had a “statistically significant 45% higher odds of early-onset colorectal conventional adenomas compared with the lowest quintile.”

“Our findings support the importance of reducing the intake of ultra-processed foods as a strategy to mitigate the rising burden of early-onset colorectal cancer,” Andrew Chan, MD, MPH, chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit and a gastroenterologist in the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, and senior author of the study, shared in a statement. “The increased risk seems to be fairly linear, meaning that the ultra-processed foods you eat, the potential that it could lead to colon polyps.”

According to the team, participants, on average, consumed 5.7 servings of ultra-processed foods daily, accounting for 35% of their total daily calories. They noted that this figure is slightly below the national average. When looking at the data, the team found that 2,787 study participants had developed precursor polyps for colorectal cancer. Among women who consumed the highest amount of ultra-processed foods, averaging 10 servings per day, there was a 45% increased risk of developing conventional adenomas, “the colorectal cancer precursor most associated with early-onset colorectal cancer,” compared to those who ate the least, averaging three servings per day.

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“One of the strengths of our study was that we had detailed information about other colorectal cancer risk factors in the participants, such as body mass index, type 2 diabetes, and low fiber intake,” Chan added. “Even after accounting for all these other risk factors, the association with ultra-processed foods still held up.”

The authors added that there are some limitations to their study, including that ultra-processed foods cannot “fully explain the rise” in early-onset colorectal cancer, and that, as of now, there aren’t very strong methods for categorizing ultra-processed foods as “some foods in this category might be harmful than others.” (Their study used the Nova frameworkwhich classifies foods into four groups based on processing: groups 1-3 for unprocessed or minimally processed foods, and group 4 for ultra-processed foods.) Additionally, because the study was observational, it cannot establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship between ultra-processed foods and colorectal cancer; it can only establish an association. This means other unmeasured factors could also play a role.

“Diet isn’t a complete explanation for why we’re seeing this trend — we see many individuals in our clinic with early onset colon cancer who eat very healthy diets,” Chan added. “Identifying other risk factors for early onset colorectal cancer is one of the focuses of the work that we’re leading here at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute.” However, the researchers also reported in their study that “reducing ultra-processed food intake may be an effective dietary strategy to prevent early-onset colorectal tumorigenesis.”