{"id":119695,"date":"2025-08-30T01:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T01:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/119695\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T01:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T01:05:09","slug":"which-food-additives-are-the-worst-and-most-likely-to-shorten-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/119695\/","title":{"rendered":"Which food additives are the worst \u2014 and most likely to shorten your life"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s been added to your food could be subtracting from your life.<\/p>\n

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs)<\/a> \u2014 which often contain high levels of sodium, refined sugars, cholesterol-spiking fats and other lab-based ingredients \u2014 are believed to make up\u00a0over 70% of the US food supply<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A recent study\u00a0<\/a>linked exposure to UPFs to 32 poor health outcomes, including a higher risk of\u00a0cardiovascular disease<\/a>,\u00a0cancer<\/a>, obesity<\/a>, Type 2\u00a0diabetes<\/a> and even premature death.<\/p>\n

Now, a novel study<\/a> out of Germany has identified the types of food additives in UPFs that can fuel the risk of early death.<\/p>\n

\"SelectionA recent study\u00a0linked exposure to ultra-processed foods to 32 poor health outcomes, including a higher risk of\u00a0cardiovascular disease,\u00a0cancer, metabolic syndrome,\u00a0obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Type 2\u00a0diabetes\u00a0and even premature death. anaumenko \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Published in the journal eClinicalMedicine<\/a>, the study had nearly 187,000 people between 40 and 75 years old keep a food log. Participants were 58 years old on average, and 57% were female.<\/p>\n

Of this group, UPFs accounted for an average of 20% of their total food intake.<\/p>\n

During the 11-year follow-up period, about 10,200 deaths were recorded.<\/p>\n

Five main types of UPF ingredients \u2014 flavor, flavor enhancers, coloring agents, sweeteners and varieties of sugar \u2014 showed strong ties to mortality risk.<\/p>\n

\"BowlAbout a dozen UPF ingredients were shown to significantly affect mortality risk. Szasz-Fabian Erika \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Specifically, those additives were glutamate and ribonucleotides (flavor enhancers); acesulfame, saccharin and sucralose<\/a> (sweeteners); caking agents, firming agents and thickeners (processing aids); and fructose, inverted sugar, lactose and maltodextrin (sugars).<\/p>\n

Interestingly, gelling agents (which are considered processing aids) lowered the risk of premature death.<\/p>\n

The researchers suggested that this may be because pectin is a beneficial fiber-based gelling agent that can help support digestion, manage cholesterol and regulate blood sugar.<\/p>\n

No associations were found with modified oils, protein sources or fiber.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe results indicate that only some [UPF ingredients] are linked to all-cause mortality, whereas others have no association with this endpoint,\u201d the researchers wrote in their findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe findings provide an initial framework for identifying [additives] that should be prioritized in interventions targeting UPFs and for future mechanistic studies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though concerns have been raised about UPF ingredients, the researchers believe theirs is the first study to explore ties between specific additives and the risk of premature death.<\/p>\n

The researchers did acknowledge that their study relies on self-reported dietary data, and they\u2019re calling for further research on the matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s been added to your food could be subtracting from your life. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) \u2014 which often…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[8609,3457,3286,97,40237,269,3284,13201,27502,673],"class_list":{"0":"post-119695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-death","9":"tag-diets","10":"tag-food-drink","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-junk-food","13":"tag-nutrition","14":"tag-study-says","15":"tag-sugar","16":"tag-ultra-processed-foods","17":"tag-wellness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}