Does eating ultra-processed foods speed up aging?

Ultra-processed foods have been associated with poor nutritional quality and potential health risks.

Now, a new study suggests that high consumption of ultra-processed foods is also associated with a significant acceleration in biological aging, which may lead to chronic diseases and decreased lifespan. The low nutritional value of highly processed foods only partly explains this link, hinting that factors other than lack of nutrients in these foods might negatively affect our biological aging.

A recent study involving over 22,000 Italian adults suggests that eating a lot of ultra-processed foods is associated with faster biological aging. Biological aging gives a more accurate picture of our body’s health than just looking at age in years and can be affected by lifestyle choices, such as diet. The poor nutrition content of ultra-processed foods was only weakly responsible for this link, implying that other aspects of these foods might accelerate our biological aging.

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