Bottom line: Cancer survivors who\u00a0consumed\u00a0higher amounts of\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0foods\u00a0as part of their diet\u00a0had\u00a0a significantly increased risk of\u00a0both\u00a0all-cause\u00a0and cancer-specific\u00a0death.<\/p>\n
Journal in which the study was published: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention,\u00a0a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Author: Marialaura Bonaccio, PhD, of the Research Unit of Epidemiology and Prevention at IRCCS Neuromed in Pozzilli, Italy<\/p>\n
Background: Ultraprocessed\u00a0foods\u00a0can be considered unhealthy because they are\u00a0often\u00a0low in essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and fiber,\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0industrial processing methods used to produce them introduce additives, artificial flavorings, preservatives, emulsifiers, and high levels of added sugars and unhealthy fats\u00a0that\u00a0the body is not well adapted to handle, Bonaccio explained.\u00a0With\u00a0the consumption of\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0foods\u00a0on the rise\u00a0in many countries around the world,\u00a0Bonaccio\u00a0said it is important to better understand\u00a0whether\u00a0eating\u00a0less\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0food\u00a0could help\u00a0cancer survivors live longer and healthier lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“What people eat after a cancer diagnosis may influence survival, but most research\u00a0in this population\u00a0has focused only on nutrients, not how processed the food is,”\u00a0Bonaccio\u00a0said.\u00a0“The substances involved in\u00a0the industrial processing of\u00a0foods can\u00a0interfere with metabolic processes, disrupt gut microbiota, and promote inflammation<\/a>. As a result, even when an\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0food has a similar calorie content\u00a0and\u00a0nutritional composition on paper compared to a minimally processed or\u00a0‘natural’\u00a0food, it\u00a0could\u00a0still have a more harmful effect on the body.”\u00a0<\/p>\n How the study was conducted: In\u00a0the\u00a0Moli-sani\u00a0Study,\u00a0a\u00a0prospective cohort study,\u00a0Bonaccio\u00a0and colleagues\u00a0followed\u00a024,325\u00a0individuals\u00a0from\u00a0March 2005\u00a0to\u00a0December 2022\u00a0who were\u00a035 or older\u00a0at study initiation\u00a0and lived\u00a0in the Southern Italian region of Molise.\u00a0Within this cohort, they\u00a0identified\u00a0802 cancer survivors\u00a0at baseline\u00a0(476 women and\u00a0326 men)\u00a0who\u00a0had provided\u00a0thorough\u00a0information about their diet\u00a0via\u00a0the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer\u00a0and Nutrition\u00a0(EPIC) food frequency questionnaire.\u00a0The\u00a0NOVA classification system, which\u00a0assigns foods into one of\u00a0four\u00a0groups based on the level\u00a0and purpose\u00a0of processing, was used to classify whether a food was\u00a0ultraprocessed.\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0amount of\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0foods\u00a0in\u00a0each individual’s diet\u00a0was then calculated in two ways:\u00a0weight ratio (which\u00a0divided\u00a0the\u00a0total weight of\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0foods\u00a0consumed\u00a0each day\u00a0by\u00a0the total weight of food and beverages consumed each day) and the energy ratio (which\u00a0divided the total calories from\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0foods\u00a0each day\u00a0by the\u00a0total\u00a0calories consumed each day).\u00a0Individuals were then divided into\u00a0three groups\u00a0based on the weight ratio of\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0foods consumed.\u00a0The\u00a0researchers also\u00a0adjusted for multiple\u00a0factors including\u00a0demographic factors, smoking status, body mass index,\u00a0leisure-time physical activity,\u00a0medical\u00a0history,\u00a0cancer type,\u00a0and\u00a0overall diet quality based on the Mediterranean Diet Score.\u00a0<\/p>\n Results: During a median follow-up of 14.6 years, there was a total of 281 deaths among the 802 cancer survivors. Individuals in the highest third of ultraprocessed food consumed by weight ratio had a 48% higher rate of death from any cause and a 57% higher rate of death from cancer compared with those in the lowest third. A higher energy ratio of ultraprocessed foods showed similar results for cancer death, but not other causes.<\/p>\n “Some foods may weigh a lot but contribute few calories, or vice versa, which is why the results can differ depending on the measure used,” Bonaccio explained. “But the fact that the association between ultraprocessed foods and all-cause death persisted even after adjusting for overall diet quality suggests that the negative health effects are not explained solely by poor nutrient profiles, but that the level and nature of industrial food processing itself play an independent role in influencing long-term health outcomes.”<\/p>\n To examine the potential biological mechanisms that may be impacted by ultraprocessed foods, Bonaccio and colleagues analyzed inflammatory, metabolic, and cardiovascular biomarkers based on samples and data collected from participants. Among the biomarkers examined, adjusting for inflammatory scores and resting heart rate attenuated the association between ultraprocessed foods and all-cause death by 37.3%.<\/p>\n “These results suggest that increased inflammation and elevated resting heart rate may partially explain the link between higher consumption of ultraprocessed foods and increased mortality, and help to clarify how food processing itself could contribute to worse outcomes among cancer survivors,” Bonaccio said.<\/p>\n To better understand if the nutritional content of ultraprocessed foods made a difference, the researchers established and examined data for seven groups of ultraprocessed foods: artificially and sugar-sweetened beverages, artificial sweeteners, and spirits; dairy and cheese products; processed meat; salty snacks and savory foods; fatty spreads and sauces; starchy foods; and sugary foods and sweets.<\/p>\n Some groups were linked to higher mortality, while others showed no clear pattern. However, interpreting individual ultraprocessed foods is challenging, and they are best considered as a dietary pattern rather than isolated items, Bonaccio said.<\/p>\n Author’s comments: “The main message for the public is that overall consumption of ultraprocessed foods matters far more than any individual item,” Bonaccio said. “Focusing on the diet as a whole and reducing ultraprocessed foods overall and shifting consumption toward fresh, minimally processed, home-cooked foods is the most meaningful and beneficial approach for health. A practical way to do this is by checking labels: Foods with more than five ingredients, or even only one food additive, are likely to be ultraprocessed.”<\/p>\n Study limitations: Limitations of this study include the fact that, as an observational study, causality cannot be inferred, dietary intakes were self-reported making them susceptible to misreporting, dietary habits could have changed over the course of the follow-up period, and the study was subject to survival bias as diet was assessed an average of 8.4 years after cancer diagnosis. Additionally, the study had a small number of deaths, which limits its statistical power, and a lack of data regarding cancer stage at the time of diagnosis.<\/p>\n Source:<\/p>\n American Association for Cancer Research<\/a><\/p>\n Journal reference:<\/p>\n Bonaccio, M., et al. (2026) Ultra-processed food and mortality among long-term cancer survivors from the Moli-sani Study: prospective findings and analysis of biological pathways. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. DOI:\u00a010.1158\/1055-9965.EPI-25-0808.\u00a0https:\/\/aacrjournals.org\/cebp\/article-abstract\/doi\/10.1158\/1055-9965.EPI-25-0808\/772087\/Ultra-processed-food-and-mortality-among-long-term<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bottom line: Cancer survivors who\u00a0consumed\u00a0higher amounts of\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0foods\u00a0as part of their diet\u00a0had\u00a0a significantly increased risk of\u00a0both\u00a0all-cause\u00a0and cancer-specific\u00a0death. Journal in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2534,27622,3619,5384,564,134,2862,7153,13346,23472,4367,111,139,9452,69,50746,1518,17733],"class_list":{"0":"post-267260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cancer","9":"tag-cancer-diagnosis","10":"tag-diet","11":"tag-epidemiology","12":"tag-food","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-heart","15":"tag-heart-rate","16":"tag-inflammation","17":"tag-minerals","18":"tag-mortality","19":"tag-new-zealand","20":"tag-newzealand","21":"tag-nutrients","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-preservatives","24":"tag-research","25":"tag-vitamins"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}