Processed Foods Highly Correlated with Obesity

Processed Foods Highly Correlated with Obesity Epidemic in the U.S. – Jan 2020 – Source Newsroom: George Washington University

This rings absolutely true to me, but… “correlation is *not* causation.” Still…

As food consumed in the U.S. becomes more and more processed, obesity may become more prevalent.

Through reviewing overall trends in food, George Washington University (GW) researcher Leigh A. Frame, PhD, MHS, concluded that detailed recommendations to improve diet quality and overall nutrition are needed for consumers, who are prioritizing food that is cheaper and more convenient, but also highly processed. 

“Many of the food trends we reviewed are tied directly to a fast-paced U.S. lifestyle that contributes to the obesity epidemic we are now facing.”  

The rising obesity epidemic in the U.S., as well as related chronic diseases, are correlated with a rise in ultra-processed food consumption.

The foods most associated with weight gain include

• potato chips,
• sugar sweetened beverages,
• sweets and desserts,
• refined grains,
• red meats, and
• processed meats,

while lower weight gain or even weight loss is associated with

• whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Other food trends outlined in the report include:

• insufficient dietary fiber intake,
• a dramatic increase in food additives like emulsifiers and gums, and
• a higher prevalence of obesity, particularly in women.

This sounds perfectly plausible and even probable, but we have to remember that correlation alone is not cause or outcome, especially when determined from retrospective data.

As much as I want to believe this, I force myself to remember that we can find all kinds of bizarre links between completely unrelated trends. A quick look at the Spurious Correlations website shows the folly of equating correlation with cause.

In mice and in vitro trials, emulsifiers, found in processed foods, have been found to

• alter microbiome compositions,
• elevate fasting blood glucose,
• cause hyperphagia,
• increase weight gain and adiposity, and
• induce hepatic steatosis.

Now they are getting a little ridiculous: many medications we’re prescribed can “alter microbiome compositions” far more than the food we eat and anything we eat too much of leads to  “weight gain and adiposity”.

Recent human trials have linked ultra-processed foods to

• decreased satiety (fullness),
• increased meal eating rates (speed),
• worsening biochemical markers, including inflammation and cholesterol, and
• more weight gain.

Again, being “linked” to something is not the same as being the “cause of” something.

In contrast, populations with low meat, high fiber, and minimally processed foods — the “blue zones” — have far less chronic diseases, obesity rates, and live longer disease-free.

…we need to include efforts to use food as medicine,”

As we age and our bodies are no longer as resilient to abuse, I and several of my friends have all come to realize that the material we put into our bodies day after day may be the most important factor in our health that’s under our control (more or less).

After all, as they say about data processing: “garbage in, garbage out.”

“Chronic disease in later years is not predestined, but heavily influenced by lifestyle and diet.”

Janese Laster, MD, a gastroenterologist in Washington, D.C., also co-authored the report. The project was conducted independently and did not receive outside funding.

“Beyond the Calories—Is the Problem in the Processing?” was published in Current Treatment Options in Gastroenterology  [Abstract annotated below]

Beyond the Calories—Is the Problem in the Processing? | SpringerLink – Nov 2019 (full text not available)

Abstract

Purpose of review

The purpose of this review is to describe the trends in dietary patterns and food quality over time along with the possible role of ultra-processed foods in obesity, chronic diseases, and all-cause mortality in the US population.

Summary

As the USA continues to industrialize, food has become more processed and cheaper and more convenient along with the coexistent rise in obesity prevalence.

This review highlights the overall trends in food:

1. mild improvements in dietary quality in higher socioeconomic populations, but
2. no significant increases in whole fruit, vegetables, legumes, or nuts.

Consumption of ultra-processed food is associated with weight gain and may contribute to metabolic syndrome and chronic disease.

To combat this epidemic, we must create and disseminate detailed recommendations to improve diet quality and overall nutrition.

After finding that people need “food that is cheaper and more convenient”, they should realize that the problem is *not* that people don’t know it’s not healthy.

The problem is that the demands of modern industrialized life. People don’t have enough time, energy, or money to pursue a healthier diet, which is often more time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive than “fast food”.

Our lifestyle these days has become literally “hazardous for health”.

And as we bring this unrestrained avaricious industrialization, both of the workforce and the food they eat, to developing countries, they start suffering these same deleterious effects from their “cheaper and more convenient, but also highly processed” diets.

This “migration” of obesity around the planet seems, to me, the clearest indicator that processed food is at least partly to blame. The correlation between the two by now has been demonstrated repeatedly in a variety of settings/countries, making it much less likely to be a spurious connection.