PARIS, August 27 (Benin News) –
A study by researchers from Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University (USA) concluded that people who eat large amounts of ultra-processed foods show more negative mental health symptoms.
Although ultra-processed foods are convenient, inexpensive, quick to prepare or ready to eat, these industrial formulations of processed food substances (oils, fats, sugars, starch, protein isolates) contain little or no whole foods.
They are the result of important “physical, biological and chemical processes” which create food products deficient in original and natural foods. Ultra-processed foods often contain flavorings, colorings, emulsifiers and other cosmetic additives.
While there is some evidence regarding ultra-processed food consumption and depression, data is sparse on other negative mental health symptoms, such as anxiety and sleepless days.
This article analyzed a representative sample of the US population to determine whether people who eat large amounts of ultra-processed foods experience significantly more negative mental health symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, and sleepless days. poor mental health.
They measured mild depression, days of poor mental health and days of anxiety in 10,359 adults aged 18 and older, from the US National Health and Nutrition Survey.
The results of the study, published in the scientific journal “Public Health Nutrition”, show that people who consume the most ultra-processed foods, compared to those who consume the least, show a statistically significant increase in symptoms. negative mental health issues, namely mild depression, “bad mental health days” and “anxiety days”.
They also had significantly lower rates of reporting zero ‘poor mental health days’ and zero ‘anxiety days’. The results of this study are generalizable to the entire United States, as well as to other Western countries with a similar consumption of ultra-processed foods.
“Ultra-processing foods depletes their nutritional value and also increases the calorie count, as ultra-processed foods tend to be high in added sugars, saturated fats and salt, while being low in protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals,” commented Eric Hecht, one of the lead researchers.
