Molecules found in body fluids reveal the contribution of the ultra -prisoners in the individual diet. And they could show us because they hurt so.
Metabolic products that remain in the blood and in the urine can reveal The “weight” of ultra -processed foods in individual nutrition and clarify the contribution of industrial foods not very nutritious to chronic diseases. A study published on Plos Medicineaccording to which these indicators will be able to provide a more accurate idea of the quality of the diet, and to help us understand which ultra -prompts, or which ingredients in them, they harm health.
Looking for traces. Erikka Loftfield, epidemiologist of the US National Cancer Institute of Rockville, Maryland (United States), analyzed the blood and urine samples of 718 healthy adults between 50 and 74 years of age to identify the Polimetabolite score, i.e. The “chemical signature”, connected to the consumption of ultra -prisoners. The participants had to provide samples of blood and urine twice after six months and report, on six occasions during a year, by thread and by sign what they had eaten the previous day.
A very high consumption. First the scientists used the Machine Learning To attribute to each participant a score that indicated how much part of the daily energy contribution derived from ultra -prompt foods, that is, foods obtained with techniques and ingredients that are difficult to replicate outside the industrial area.
On average, half of the daily calories taken by each one derived from the ultra -processed, with large differences between one extreme to the other (for someone the contribution was 12% and for others of 82%). Those who consumed more ultra -prompts tended to obtain a large part of their carbohydrate energy, sugars and fats and less from proteins or fibers, as was the case for those who ate healthier.
A recognizable signature. At this point the scientists sought in blood and urine Metabolitesthat is, the products of the metabolic reactions, more common in those who consumed large quantities of ultra -reprocessive. They found hundreds of them, but to outline a polymented score, 28 of the blood or 33 in the urine are enough. This score is predictive of the quantity of ultra -prisoners declared in the daily diet.
Some molecules particularly jump to the eye for their possible health effects. For example, the blood samples of those who had a diet rich in these foods more likely contained a metabolite connected to a increased risk of type 2 diabetes; In some cases, the urine of these people contained a molecule produced not by foods directly, but by the packaging of the ultra -prisoners.
Validation. The team then tested the capacity of the metabolic score in finding the richest diets of ultra -prompts on the subjects of another controlled study, which had followed a very rich diet of ultra -reprocessive or unspecified foods for two weeks.
Metabolites have made it possible to distinguish those who fed one or another.
What is it bad? Perfected, this tool could help to understand what elements of ultra -prompt foods, or what types of ultra -processedare more harmful to health. If, for example, the type of processing, the packaging used, the nutritional composition (such as the high amount of sugars and fats), the use of additives and dyes or the fact that, when we ingest them, we are not eating healthy foods – in short, what this is more harmful to health. With the idea of pushing companies to change the processes to protect our health.
