Ultraprocessed food intake speeds up biological ageing

High consumption of ultraprocessed food (UPF) may accelerate biological ageing, suggests a study.

A team of investigators performed cross-sectional analyses on 22,495 participants enrolled in the Moli-sani Study (2005‒2010, Italy) and evaluated food intake using a 188-item food frequency questionnaire. They also assessed diet quality using the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS; range, 0‒9).

The Nova classification was used to define UPF, calculated as the ratio (weight ratio) between UPF and total food (g/day) eaten (g/day).

Biological age (BA) was computed using a deep neural network approach based on 36 circulating biomarkers. The investigators tested the resulting difference (Δage = BA – chronological age), an index of biological ageing, as a dependent variable in multivariable linear regression analyses including known risk factors.

The participants had a mean Δage of ‒0.70 years. Multivariable-adjusted analyses revealed the association between higher UPF consumption and accelerated Δage (β, 0.34 years, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.08‒0.61). The association was not linear (p<0.001 for overall association; p=0.049 for nonlinearity).

When including the MDS into the model, the association slightly decreased by 9.1 percent (β, 0.31 years, 95 percent CI, 0.04‒0.59).

“The poor nutritional composition of highly processed foods weakly accounted for this association, suggesting that biological ageing could be adversely influenced by non-nutrient characteristics of these foods,” the investigators said.