Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Today,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about a new research paper that's
Speaker 1: just been released that I think is yet another nil
Speaker 1: in the coffin of ultra processed foods. So it was
Speaker 1: published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and the
Speaker 1: title is Premature Mortality Attributable to ultra process food Consumption
Speaker 1: in eight Countries. So what they did was they looked
Speaker 1: at a number of different countries, ones in Central and
Speaker 1: South America. So they picked Columbia, Brazil, they picked Chile
Speaker 1: and Mexico, and then they picked Australia, Canada, United Kingdom
Speaker 1: and the US. And the reason for picking these countries
Speaker 1: is that a couple of them were low consumers of
Speaker 1: ultra process foods i Columbia and Brazil, a couple were
Speaker 1: intermediate consumers Chile and Mexico, and the rest of them
Speaker 1: were high Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States,
Speaker 1: which if you've listened to my podcast before, are four
Speaker 1: of the biggest of the four biggest consumers of ultra
Speaker 1: processed foods in the world, the biggest one being the
Speaker 1: United States, swiftly followed by the United Kingdom, and then
Speaker 1: we have Canada and Australia. And what they did was
Speaker 1: they looked at the percentage of ultra processed foods in
Speaker 1: the diets of the population in those different countries. So
Speaker 1: they looked at national surveys. So for instance, the Brazil
Speaker 1: one was in the year twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, that's
Speaker 1: when the survey was done, and this is for people
Speaker 1: of thirty to sixty nine years old, and the main
Speaker 1: consumption of ultra process food in Brazil was seventeen point
Speaker 1: four percent of calories in the diet. Contrast that with
Speaker 1: the United States that was fifty four and a half percent.
Speaker 1: That was from the big national survey in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. Now again these are data for thirty to
Speaker 1: sixty nine year olds, So let's take case in point
Speaker 1: of the United States, fifty four percent of all calories
Speaker 1: consumed by thirty to sixty nine year olds were ultra
Speaker 1: process foods. We know that similar time, they looked at
Speaker 1: diets of teenagers and they had a whopping sixty six
Speaker 1: percent of their calories were from ultra process foods. Again
Speaker 1: very similar to UK. They had about sixty six percent
Speaker 1: two thirds of all calories consumed by teenagers in recent
Speaker 1: years were from ultra process foods. But the data that
Speaker 1: they used in this that was from a survey in
Speaker 1: the United Kingdom of twenty eighteen to nineteen and fifty
Speaker 1: three percent, just over half of all calories consumed were
Speaker 1: from ultra process foods. And then Canada it was twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: data was forty three point seven percent, Australia was twenty
Speaker 1: eleven to twenty twelve. So this data is fourteen years
Speaker 1: old and that was thirty seven point five percent amongst
Speaker 1: that population. Now and those numbers are definitely higher particularly,
Speaker 1: and what I mean by that is today they're definitely
Speaker 1: higher because, for an instance, in the United State, it's
Speaker 1: seventy three percent of all foods sold in supermarkets are
Speaker 1: ultra process foods. I think we can reliably say that
Speaker 1: in the United States and United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and
Speaker 1: you could throw in New Zealand into this, over half
Speaker 1: of all calories consumed across the entire population are from
Speaker 1: ultra processed foods and drinks. And so some people have criticized.
Speaker 1: You may have seen some of this. This research paper
Speaker 1: has been out in the news today, and some people
Speaker 1: have criticized the idea of ultra processed foods because it's
Speaker 1: a bit too blunt. Now, a lot of those people
Speaker 1: are big food that are talking about this, saying this
Speaker 1: is a very blunt instrument, and you know, we don't
Speaker 1: really know for sure, and it could be just that
Speaker 1: some other researchers are saying, well, these foods tend to
Speaker 1: be high in fat, sugar, and salt, and maybe it's
Speaker 1: that rather than the processing. The counter argument to this
Speaker 1: is that we know from all the research that's done
Speaker 1: in ultra processed foods, and I've got at least fifty
Speaker 1: research papers on ultra processed foods RISKS, so we know
Speaker 1: consistently that these foods, as well as having high in sugar, fat, salt,
Speaker 1: and those sorts of things, they also contain most of
Speaker 1: them emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, and preservatives and often colorings, and
Speaker 1: we know that those things all disrupt the gut microbiome.
Speaker 1: So let's get back to the study. But what I
Speaker 1: wanted to do is say that when you take not
Speaker 1: just looking at this paper in isolation, but the totality
Speaker 1: of evidence that's emerging around ultra processed foods. I think
Speaker 1: there's a massive smoking gun that's going on here. And
Speaker 1: obviously there is a continuum of ultra processed foods. Just
Speaker 1: to take a step back, they typically tend to have
Speaker 1: five or more ingredients and are produced large scale industrial
Speaker 1: processing such as factories, and they have constituents of food
Speaker 1: parts of food, and they're not kind of real food.
Speaker 1: As I say, this food hasn't been alive that Now,
Speaker 1: breakfast cereals tend to be an ultra processed food other
Speaker 1: than rolled oats. Now, clearly there's a continuum. You take
Speaker 1: week bits brand fleets on one end and the cocoa
Speaker 1: pops and things like that on the other end. There
Speaker 1: is clearly a continuum. But I think this ultra process
Speaker 1: foods is a very very good guideline for people. But anyway,
Speaker 1: let's get back to the study. What the study actually
Speaker 1: found was that an increasing ultra process foods in the
Speaker 1: diet by ten percent increased your risk of all cause
Speaker 1: mortality that is, death by anything by three percent. Now,
Speaker 1: some people might think thirty percent increased risk of death
Speaker 1: by any cause isn't absolutely huge, But when you comper
Speaker 1: somebody eating a healthy diet like in Brazil, were. As
Speaker 1: I said, the numbers of ultra processed food consumption, or
Speaker 1: the rate of ultra process could consumption, was under twenty percent.
Speaker 1: That's what we typically see in speed pass countries like
Speaker 1: spaing in Italy, it's less than twenty percent and consumed
Speaker 1: across the population. If you compare that with the United
Speaker 1: States and the UK, and to a lesser extent, Canada
Speaker 1: and New Zealand and Australia, there's a thirty percent difference
Speaker 1: in those countries, which ramps up to a ten percent
Speaker 1: increase in all cause mortality. Now a ten I don't
Speaker 1: know about you, but for me, a ten percent increase
Speaker 1: in all cause mortality is absolutely freaking massive. I think
Speaker 1: you might remember the big hullabaloo come out a number
Speaker 1: of years ago, and it was all splashed across the
Speaker 1: papers that bacon causes bill cancer. And this was about
Speaker 1: process meets increasing your risk of bill cancer. And that's true,
Speaker 1: that's undeniable. I think the evidence is pretty strong. But
Speaker 1: what it's it was basically an extra fifty grams a
Speaker 1: day of processed meats and increase your risk of ball cancer,
Speaker 1: a single disease, by eighteen percent. This is all cause mortality.
Speaker 1: This is death by any cause, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes,
Speaker 1: all of those things. And when you combine this study
Speaker 1: with the recent Umbrella review that I have talked about
Speaker 1: that looked at all of the different studies that were
Speaker 1: done on ultra processed food so far and basically find
Speaker 1: convincing class one evidence that these foods increase the risk
Speaker 1: of a whole host of different diseases. So, just from memory,
Speaker 1: I think anxiety it was it was something like a
Speaker 1: forty between forty and fifty percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease,
Speaker 1: the biggest killer, Like that's massive. A forty three percent
Speaker 1: increase risk in anxiety it was something along that and
Speaker 1: something like a fifty two percent increased risk in common
Speaker 1: mental health disorders. And this is class one convincing evidence.
Speaker 1: So when we line all of this stuff up, the
Speaker 1: study showing that they disrupt the got microbiome the additives
Speaker 1: in them, as well as this study here and the
Speaker 1: Umbrella review, I think it is very very clear, beyond
Speaker 1: the shadow of a doubt, that ultra processed foods are
Speaker 1: killing us, and they're killing our kids. And the real
Speaker 1: concerning thing for me is the amount of this stuff
Speaker 1: that teenagers eat, and not just to remind you. As
Speaker 1: I said earlier, recent data has shown in the United
Speaker 1: States and in the United Kingdom, and I think it
Speaker 1: would be very very similar in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Speaker 1: Sixty six percent of all calories consumed by teenagers are
Speaker 1: ultra process crap. This me is a national health emergency
Speaker 1: and we need to just wake up around this. So
Speaker 1: that's not a very pleasant wisdom Wednesday, but I think
Speaker 1: it is buyer bewre If it looks like it hasn't
Speaker 1: been alive, it's in your treat foods. That's it for
Speaker 1: this week, folks, catch you next time.