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Frequent consumption of unhealthy foods in the form of ultra-processed foods can lead to premature cellular aging. This is the conclusion reached by scientists from the University of Navarra in Spain, whose article was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Science Alert briefly reports on scientific work.
The experts analyzed the DNA and health data of 886 people aged 51 to 91 who participated in a long-term study of the SUN Project (1999-2018), which examined the effect of eating habits on blood pressure, diabetes , obesity and coronary heart disease. As part of the study, participants provided saliva samples from which DNA was extracted to determine the length of telomeres, the terminal portions of chromosomes that protect DNA from damage during replication. Its shortening is often referred to as a marker of cellular aging, although the relationship of telomeres to human biological aging is still not very clear.
The frequency of consumption of ultra-processed foods (sugary drinks, meats and other foods with a large amount of aromas, preservatives, fats and sugars) was determined by food questionnaires. Based on the results, the participants were assigned to four groups according to low, medium-low, medium-high and high consumption. Each group was associated with the risk of telomere shortening using logistic regression, a statistical model that allows you to determine the probability of one of two outcomes for any trait, as well as how much this probability increases if the trait changes quantitatively.
According to the study, people who ate junk food more frequently (three servings a day) were almost twice as likely among the 20 percent of subjects to have the shortest telomeres of all participants, compared to those who had the they ate less frequently. For the medium-low and medium-high consumption groups, the risk increased by 29 and 40 percent, respectively.
The authors caution that despite the correlation, causality remains speculative. For example, it is possible that participants who abuse junk food lead generally unhealthy lifestyles that accelerate cellular aging. However, there is other evidence that unhealthy foods can cause inflammatory reactions and disorders in the immune system, which are traditionally considered one of the factors of the aging process.
