Effect of ultra-processed food consumption on health

Abstract

The global consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) has rapidly increased over the past two decades. Mexico is one of the countries with the highest consumption of ultra-processed foods, including so-called “junk” foods, that is, foods that contain high calorie loads and provide little or no nutritional components. The high consumption of ultra-processed and sugary foods plays an important role in the development of cardiovascular diseases and in the origin of type 2 diabetes, since excess of sugar can metabolically convert into visceral fat and increase insulin resistance. In the same way, the high intake of sugary drinks can reduce glomerular filtration efficiency and thereby promote kidney damage. Recently, a direct relationship has been reported between high consumption of ultra-processed foods and an increase in mental disorders such as depression. Additionally, this dietary pattern has been shown to shorten telomeres length (repeated sequences of non-coding DNA), accelerating the metabolic aging process. In contrast, a healthy diet rich in antioxidants could mitigate the damage from high consumption of ultra-processed foods by reducing telomere wasting, oxidative stress, and inflammation. The objective of this work is to spread awareness of the effect of ultra-processed food consumption on health, as well as to highlight the positive effect of consuming foods with antioxidant activity under these circumstances.