Ultraprocessed food consumption ups risk of suicide attempt

Regular consumption of ultraprocessed foods (UPF) appears to elevate the risk of suicide attempts (SAs), suggests a study. This association is partially mediated by inflammatory index levels.

A total of 208,938 participants from the UK Biobank cohort were recruited between 2006 and 2010 in this study. The researchers explored the relationship between the weight proportion of UPF intake and incident SA using Cox proportional hazards models. They also evaluated the risk of SA when replacing UPF with unprocessed or minimally processed foods (UNPFs) via substitution analyses.

Finally, the mediating effects of inflammatory index levels in this association were estimated through causal mediation analyses.

Five hundred forty-five SA events occurred over a median follow-up of 13.1 years. Participants in the highest quintile of UPF consumption had a 1.63 times greater risk of developing SA (hazard ratio [HR], 1.63, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.23‒2.15) than those in the lowest quintile.

Moreover, each SD increase in UPF consumption resulted in a 20-percent increased risk of SA (HR, 1.20, 95 percent CI, 1.11‒1.29). On the other hand, replacing 20 percent of UPF weight with UNPF led to a 23-percent decrease in SA risk (HR, 0.77, 95 percent CI, 0.69‒0.85).

Causal mediation analyses revealed that inflammatory index levels mediated 0.7 percent to 1.5 percent of the association between UPF consumption and SA.

“Replacing UPF with UNPF significantly reduces SA incidence, highlighting potential benefits of transitioning to a diet with higher UNPF consumption,” the researchers said.