Want to prevent premature aging? You might want to rethink your diet. New research finds eating three or more servings of what they call “ultra-processed” food could lead to changes in chromosomes that are linked to aging. The stuff to avoid in excess? Stuff like cookies, chips, fast food and things loaded with oils, fats, starch and not many nutrients. You know, JUNK food.
Scientists at the European and International Conference on Obesity shared their findings based on a study that shows eating multiple daily servings of these ultra-processed foods doubles the odds that certain strands of DNA – called telomeres – would be shorter compared to people who eat healthier. Shorter telomeres are a marker of biological aging at the cellular level and according to this study, eating a lot of processed junk food can push the cells to age faster.
Researchers in Spain looked at the health data of around 900 people and divided them into groups based on how much processed food they ate. They found those who ate more of it were more likely to have a history of diabetes, abnormal blood fats or cardiovascular disease in their family, as well as up to an 82% chance of having shorter telomeres, compared to the group who ate the least amount of ultra-processed food.
Source: New York Post