Common Snack Foods May Make You Frailer, Study Warns

Ultra-processed foods could be increasing your risk of become frailer as you age, new research suggests. However, some foods appear to be worse than others.

In the U.S., ultra-processed foods account for almost 60 percent of our energy intake, according to research published in The British Medical Journal. These include packaged snacks, carbonated drinks, instant noodles, ready meals and most products that contain a long list of unrecognizable ingredients, preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners and artificial flavorings.

We are increasingly learning that a diet high in ultra-processed foods may be associated with an increased risk of various health issues, including heart disease, diabetes, bowel cancer, obesity and cognitive decline. Now, new research suggests that these highly processed snacks may be increasing our risk of frailty too, especially among women.

Frailty is a common geriatric condition, affecting roughly 15 percent of American adults aged 65 and over. It is generally characterized as a decreased ability to respond and adapt to activity and injury, a reduction in muscle strength, increased vulnerability to stressors, and various other physical changes that make it harder to perform everyday activities.

The new study, led by Teresa Fung at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, followed 63,743 non-frail female participants aged 60 and above over a minimum 26-year period. Every four years, the participants were asked a series of questions about their food intake and lifestyle.

During the study period, 15,186 cases of frailty were reported, which appeared to be closely linked with the participant’s diet.

“Ultra-processed food (servings per day) was directly associated with risk of frailty,” the researchers write. “We found a higher frailty risk with each serving per day of artificial and sugar-sweetened beverages; fat, spreads, and condiments; yogurt and dairy-based desserts; and other ultra-processed foods.”

Importantly, ultra-processed food intake was associated with frailty independent of diet quality.

It is worth adding that not all processed foods were associated with frailty, for example, whole grains.

“Our research highlights the significant impact of diet on frailty risk in older women,” Fung said in a statement. “We found that a higher intake of ultra processed foods is strongly associated with increased frailty, even when accounting for overall diet quality. This suggests that it’s not just what we eat, but the level of food processing that may play a crucial role in aging and physical function.”

The findings were published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

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