Smriti Mallapaty in Nature:
Molecules in urine and blood can reveal how much of a person’s diet comes from ultra-processed foods, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine today1. The paper suggests that these measurements provide an objective way to track consumption of ultra-processed food — and would be useful for investigating links to diseases such as diabetes and cancer.
Ultra-processed foods are industrially manufactured and often contain ingredients, such as additives and emulsifiers, that are not typically found in home-cooked food. From sweetened yogurts to factory-made bread and packaged snacks, “it’s a really wide range of foods”, says study co-author Erikka Loftfield, an epidemiologist at the US National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland. Studies have linked high consumption of ultra-processed food to an increased risk of obesity2, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some types of cancer3. But these investigations have typically relied on asking individuals to remember what they have eaten, which can be unreliable. Studies have also shown the potential of studying the products of metabolism excreted in the blood and urine, but only for a small number of such metabolites4,5. Loftfield and her colleagues have now expanded that analysis to include more than 1,000 metabolites, which are produced when the body converts food into energy.
More here.
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