An analysis of two studies published in The BMJ found eating a lot of ultra-processed foods significantly increased the risk of colorectal cancer for men and heart disease for both men and women, CNN reported Sep. 1.
Ultra-processed foods include prepackaged soups, sauces, ready-to-eat meals, hot dogs, french fries, sodas, store-bought desserts and more. Such foods are more likely to contain high amounts of sugars and salt, chemical additives and preservatives, and little dietary fiber.
Two large-scale studies in Italy and the United States followed over 222,000 people for 12 and 28 years, respectively.
The US-based study found a link between ultra-processed food and colorectal cancer in men, but not in women.
"Reasons for such a sex difference are still unknown, but may involve the different roles that obesity, sex hormones, and metabolic hormones play in men versus women," co-senior author Fang Fang Zhang, a cancer epidemiologist and chair of the division of nutrition epidemiology and data science at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston, told CNN.
The Italy-based study found a link between ultra-processed foods and increased risk of cancer as well as heart and brain disease.