In an eight countries, including the UK and the US, people who eat large amounts of superprocessed foods (UPFs) may die earlier.

Processed meat, biscuits, carbonated drinks, ice cream and some breakfast cereals are examples of UPF that are becoming more common around the world.

UPFS tends to contain more than five ingredients that are usually not found in home cooking, such as additives, sweeteners, and chemicals to improve the texture or appearance of food.

Some experts say it's not yet known why UPF is associated with poor health - there's little evidence that the processing itself, probably because these foods contain high levels of fat, salt and sugar.

The researchers behind the study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, have studied previous studies to estimate the effects of ultra-severe food intake on mortality.

This study cannot clearly demonstrate that UPFS causes any premature death.

This is because the amount of superprocessed foods in someone’s diet is also related to their overall diet, exercise level, a broader lifestyle and wealth, which can also affect health.

The study looked at people's surveys on diet and death data in eight countries - Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The report estimates that UPFS accounts for more than half of calorie intake in the UK and the US, with 14% of early deaths likely related to the harm they cause.

In countries like Colombia and Brazil, such as much lower UPF intake (less than 20% of calorie intake), the study estimated that these foods were associated with about 4% of early deaths.

UPFS affects health, said lead study author Dr. Eduardo Nilson, PhD, from Brazil, “due to changes in food during industrial processing and the use of human-caused components, including colorants, artificial flavors and sweeteners, emulsifiers, lotions, and many other additives and processing aids.”

According to their calculations, in the United States, 124,000 premature deaths were caused by the consumption of superprocessed foods in 2018. In the UK, nearly 18,000 are available.

The study shows that governments should update their dietary advice to urge people to reduce these foods.

No one agrees with the definition, but the NOVA classification is often used. Examples include:

• cake
• potato chips
• Supermarket bread
• Prepare meal
• Processed meat
• Chicken nuggets
• Fish fingers
• yogurt
• Tofu
• Baby formula

The numbers in the study are based on modeling the impact of super-severe foods on people’s health.

Professor Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University, said the study made many mathematical assumptions that made him cautious about the meaning of the discovery.

“It is not clear whether any consumption of any UPF alone is detrimental to health or what aspects of UPF may be involved.

“All this means that no study can determine whether the difference in mortality among people consuming different UPF numbers is actually caused by differences in their UPF consumption.

“You still can’t be sure of any research on what it causes.”

Dr. Nerys Astbury, an expert in diet and obesity at Oxford University, also agreed that there are limitations to the study.

It is well known that eating habits are high in energy, fat and sugar can increase the risk of disease such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease and some cancers, which can lead to premature death.

“Many UPFs tend to be high in these nutrients,” she said. She added that research to date has not proven that the effects of UPF are due to “a diet high in the diet, which is high in diets that are energy-intensive and contain a lot of fat and sugar.”

Stephen Burgess of the University of Cambridge said this type of research cannot prove that eating superprocessed foods is harmful.

How someone’s physical condition can be the main cause of poor health. But when many studies in many countries and cultures suggest that UPFS can be a risk to health, Dr. Burgess said: “Super processed food may be more than just bystanders.”