A new study published in Family Medicine and Community Health has investigated the link between ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and the risk of multiple chronic diseases. The meta-analysis, conducted by Liu et al., combined data from 51 studies involving over 8 million participants.
Dr Adam Jacobs, Executive Director and Strategic Consultant at Biostatistics, Ergomed, noted that while the study is impressively large, it cannot compensate for biases or confounding in the individual studies. He raised particular concerns about socioeconomic status as a confounder, suggesting that UPF consumption might be a marker for poverty rather than being inherently harmful. Many studies in the meta-analysis did not adequately adjust for economic measures.
Professor Gunter Kuhnle, Professor of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Reading, highlighted the difficulties in measuring food intake and reliably categorising UPF. He also pointed out that some foods classified as UPF, such as sugar-sweetened beverages, are already known to have adverse health effects. Professor Kuhnle suggested that adherence to general dietary recommendations might be more important than specifically avoiding UPF.
The study authors assessed the quality of their evidence using the GRADE assessment tool, rating only one outcome (obesity and overweight) as having moderate certainty. The remaining seven outcomes were rated as having low or very low certainty.