Consuming common ultra-processed foods (UPFs) such as packaged bread, cakes, and ready meals significantly increases the risk of dying prematurely, according to a major international study that is reigniting calls for stricter regulations on the food industry.
The research, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that for every 10% increase in a person's intake of UPFs, the risk of dying before age 75 rises by 3%.
In some countries, these foods are linked to as many as one in seven premature deaths.
UPFs, which make up more than half of the total energy intake in high-income countries like the US and UK, have been associated with 124,107 early deaths per year in the US and 17,781 in England.
