Biological ageing and ultra-processed food

A new Italian study has found that a high consumption of ultra-processed food is associated with a significant acceleration in biological ageing. Researchers analysed the data of more than 22,000 participants from the Moli-sani Study, one of the largest population cohorts in Europe and used over thirty different blood bio markers to measure biological ageing. The researchers found that the acceleration of biological ageing occurs with the consumption of ultra-processed regardless of the nutritional quality of the diet.

Unlike chronological age which depends on the actual age in real time of an individual, biological age reflects biological conditions of an individual’s body on a cellular level, including tissue, organs, cells and systems. Chronological age is how long an individual has been alive for.

The study conducted by the Research Unit of Epidemiology and Prevention at the I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed in Pozzilli, in collaboration with the LUM University of Casamassima is published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.