Scientists from the Halal Research Center of IRI found that ultra-processed food intake is linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder that causes your blood sugar levels to increase.
The severity of diabetes can vary quite a bit: Some people get the disease well under control, and in others, it leads to other health problems over time.
In type 2 diabetes, insulin is made by the pancreas, but the body’s cells gradually lose the ability to absorb and use the insulin.
Type 2 diabetes is often referred to as “adult-onset” diabetes because it is commonly diagnosed later in life. It is much more common than type 1 diabetes. About 90% of people who have diabetes have type 2 diabetes.
Recent studies have found that intake of ultra-processed food may be related to type two diabetes.
Ultra-processed foods are food and drink products that have undergone specified types of food processing, usually by transnational and other very large ‘Big food’ corporations.
These foods are designed to be “convenient, eaten on the go, hyper-palatable and appealing to consumers, and, most importantly, the most profitable segment of Big food companies’ portfolios because of these foods’ low-cost ingredients”.
Ultra-processed foods are connected to obesity, other health issues, food access, and insecurity issues and contribute to some of the other environmental impacts of industrial agriculture.
In the current study, researchers aimed to summarize the results from previous studies to examine the link between ultra-processed food consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes.
They used data from five studies that involved more than 230,000 adults from four different countries.
The results showed that higher ultra-processed food consumption was strongly linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
They also found that each 10% increase in ultra-processed food consumption (kcal/d) was linked to a 15% higher risk of type 2 diabetes among adults.
Other analyses also demonstrated an association between ultra-processed food consumption and type 2 diabetes risk among adults.
These findings suggest that a higher intake of ultra-processed food was strongly linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
However, the team says the underlying mechanisms remain unknown and future experimental studies need to resolve the issue.
The research was published in Nutrients and conducted by Sajjad Moradi et al.
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