A new study, which will be presented at this year’s European and International Conference on Obesity (ECOICO 2020), has found strong association between the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) and the shortening of telomeres.
Telomeres are sections of chromosomes that can be used as a marker of biological age.
The work was conducted by Lucia Alonso-Pedrero and colleagues with the supervision of Professor Maira Bes-Rastrollo and Professor Amelia Marti, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
European and International Conference on Obesity (ECOICO 2020) will be held online from 1-4 September.
The researchers found that people who consume more than 3 servings per day of UPFs may likely to have very low level of telomeres in their body.
Short telomeres are a marker of biological ageing at the cellular level. Ultra-processed food consumption may cause the cells to age faster.
Telomeres are found at the ends of the chromosomes. These are formed from a strand of DNA together with specialized proteins. In each human cell 23 pairs of chromosomes can be found. These pairs store our generic code. Although, genetic information cannot be found in telomeres, they play a very important role in preserving the stability and integrity of chromosomes and by extension, the DNA that every cell in our body relies on to function.
As we get older, our telomeres get shorter since each time a cell divides, part of the telomere is lost, thus telomere length (TL) is considered to be a marker of biological age.
We are consuming less and less food, while UPF intake is rising across the world. UPF comprises mainly of sugars, starch, fats, oils and protein isolates. Such foods don’t contain whole grain.
Cosmetic additives such as flavourings, colourings, emulsifiers are also found abundantly in such foods. They are ready to consume, don’t perish easily because of such additives, and the manufacturing process involved.
They are very popular among manufacturers and distributers because of their low cost and long shelf-life.
These foods have poor nutritional value. Food experts consider them as unbalanced. People often overconsume it, at the expense of less processed and more nutritious alternatives.
Research has associated UPFs with serious diseases including hypertension, obesity, metabolic syndrome, depression, type 2 diabetes, and various cancers. These conditions are often age-related and are linked to oxidative stress, inflammation, and cellular ageing which can also influence TL.
Despite this, there have been few studies into the effects of UPF consumption on TL, but those that have been conducted found associations between the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), alcohol, processed meats and other foods rich in saturated fats and sugar with having shorter telomeres. These studies are far from conclusive however, as other research has not shown a link between UPF and TL.