United States: France and Germany based scientists have conducted a study to establish the metabolic biomarkers for urine and plasma that are linked to uptake of ultra-processed foods within adolescents and young persons.
The study is however published in The Journal of Nutrition but only as pre-proof at the moment. The consumption of UFP is rapidly growing globally, and it has rapidly increased in the developed countries.
As reported by the Medical and Life Sciences, systematic review of epidemiological data which indicates that the excessive consumption of up processed products especially animal products and sugary products increases the likelihood of obesity, cardiovascular events and metabolic disease. Ingestion of ultra-processed food also promotes chronic kidney disease, cancer, and neuropsychiatric issues.
Categorized in terms of nutrient profiling, UPFs are characterized by added sugars, salts, saturated fats, energy density, and reduced proteins and dietary fibers. Poor nutrient profiles such as these are thought to have adverse health effects.
The scientists collected data from the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study of healthy, growing children with systematic measurements taken from birth until adulthood.
The DONALD study has been enrolling healthy infants every year from 1985 and continuously monitors their dietary intakes, anthropometric data, urine samples, biochemical data, medical parameters, leisure activities, and other sociodemo-graphic variables.
Three hundred and thirty-nine urine samples of adolescents and 195 blood samples of young adults were used in the present work. In other words, 139 persons took part in both groups.
The share of ultra-processed food in their consumptions were 22% among adolescents and 23% among young adults. The three most frequently consumed UFPs in both groups were sweetened beverages and ready-to-heat or ready-to-eat foods.
The authors reported that 42 metabolites associated with ultra-processed food intake were detected in the urine of adolescents. These metabolites include 21 of which had significant positive correlation with ultra-processed food consumption.
Out of all the known metabolites that had been detected in urine samples, the present results which revealed that there was a positive relationship between ultra-processed food consumption and indoxyl glucuronide are involved in detoxification processed notably the elimination of dietary substances through the glucuronidation pathways.
A total of six ultra-processed food-responsive metabolites were identified in young adult and the plasma samples. Of these metabolites, 4-hydroxyglutamate has previously been linked to the metabolic syndrome and may be an indicator of the metabolic stress.
Impact of the ultra-processed food intake on urine and the plasma metabolite patterns.
A total of 25 metabolite patterns and identified using the robust sparse principal component analysis explained 61.7% of the variance in the ultra-processed food.