consumption of ultra-processed foods leads to advanced aging at the cellular level

[rodi]

We cook from scratch almost every meal. But we still are consuming processed foods. All purpose flour, rice (although we use organic brown rice), pasta, etc. We sometimes make pasta from scratch - but it's not like we're growing wheat and grinding our own flour.

Even the vegetarian son eats a lot of processed food - tofu, beyond burgers, tortillas, etc.

Fortunately, fruits and veggies are a big part of our diet...

 

[tmm99]

I wasn't serious about the "schmurkury" part. Of course mercury must be avoided and handled with extreme care.

I WAS serious about playing with it. I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood. Very few dads were office workers. Maybe an HVAC dad came back with some thermostats to play with. They were a great source of copious mercury. Somehow I got a-hold of some from my dad, can't remember the source, but he was a plumber. He inhaled molten lead fumes for 45 years, so maybe he wasn't thinking about the danger of mercury. They played with it as kids too.

Sure, it sounds crazy now. But back then, you broke a thermometer and we'd just sweep it up. No haz-mat situation like today.

Procedures change. They changed a lot starting in the early 70s. I'm talking late 60s when we did our playing.

We also played with an "Atomic Energy Lab" set, which now is apparently the most dangerous toy ever produced. And Jarts were a staple at family picnics.

None of this is right, and I'm not looking to the Good Old Days. As a matter of fact, I worry it really screwed me up! Especially helping dad melt the lead. I spent many a days with him firing up his lead pot and leaning over the melted lead.

So true, there are so many things that we had/did in the past that are now considered hazardous. I guess we've been lucky that we didn't get exposed to them in high doses. (I used to lick my lead pencils when I was a kid, for whatever reason...)

 

[tmm99]

We cook from scratch almost every meal. But we still are consuming processed foods. All purpose flour, rice (although we use organic brown rice), pasta, etc. .

True, if we started counting like that, the number of processed foods we eat becomes huge. (Canned stewed tomatoes, canned beans, canned tuna, mayo, cheese, other dairy products, etc, etc.) What I do is to minimize exposures to some of the worst offenders, like items that include ingredients like partially hydragenated oils and high-fructose corn syrup.

 

[USGrant1962]

So true, there are so many things that we had/did in the past that are now considered hazardous. I guess we've been lucky that we didn't get exposed to them in high doses. (I used to lick my lead pencils when I was a kid, for whatever reason...)

Good thing your pencil "leads" were graphite. Though the paint may have had some lead in it.

 

[stepford]

So since processed foods cause aging "at the cellular level - oooh, Science - how much longer do folks eating a super-healthy all natural diet live than the rest of us who eat whatever?

To be fair and keep the comparison apples to apples, let's not count morbidly obese people who would skew the data, but compare the uber-healthy eaters with people eating crap, but in controlled portions so their weight is normal. This latter group includes most of my relatives, who have generally lived into their 90s.

 

[RAE]

So since processed foods cause aging "at the cellular level - oooh, Science - how much longer do folks eating a super-healthy all natural diet live than the rest of us who eat whatever? .

That would obviously require a long-term study over many decades, which of course is not something many researchers are interested in doing (or could get funding for, for that matter). Otherwise, you are just using anectdotal information, really doesn't tell you much of anything meaningful.

 

[tmm99]

Good thing your pencil "leads" were graphite. Though the paint may have had some lead in it.

Hey, I didn't know that. Someone told me to stop doing it because it had lead in it, but I guess I could have kept on doing it!

 

[stepford]

That would obviously require a long-term study over many decades, which of course is not something many researchers are interested in doing (or could get funding for, for that matter). Otherwise, you are just using anectdotal information, really doesn't tell you much of anything meaningful.

In other words, developing a credible link between diet and longevity would require actual science.

 

[LOL!]

Raise your hand if you know how telomeres work!

 

[daylatedollarshort]

So since processed foods cause aging "at the cellular level - oooh, Science - how much longer do folks eating a super-healthy all natural diet live than the rest of us who eat whatever?

To be fair and keep the comparison apples to apples, let's not count morbidly obese people who would skew the data, but compare the uber-healthy eaters with people eating crap, but in controlled portions so their weight is normal. This latter group includes most of my relatives, who have generally lived into their 90s.

In the U.S., the Seventh Day Adventists in Loma Linda live 10 - 12 years longer than the rest of the population, though they have many lifestyle differences in addition to avoiding processed foods -
"To make it to age 100, you have to have won the genetic lottery. But most of us have the capacity to make it well into our early 90’s and largely without chronic disease. As the Adventists demonstrate, the average person’s life expectancy could increase by 10-12 years by adopting a Blue Zones lifestyle."
https://www.bluezones.com/2016/11/power-9/

On the topic of longevity, science and diet, many universities do have departments dedicated to longevity science and diet is usually the main focus. Valter Longo at USC has a book out called the Longevity Diet, based on his research. He bases his recommendations on what he calls the five pillars of longevity, which include epidemiology, basic research on longevity, clinical studies, centenarian studies, and studies of complex systems (cars and planes). Interview here - https://news.usc.edu/135551/fasting-aging-dieting-and-when-you-should-eat-valter-longo/ .

Researchers have been studying long lived populations for decades, and have been conducting experiments on short lived animal species as well, like yeast and mice.

 

[braumeister]

though they have many lifestyle differences in addition to avoiding processed foods

Which is pretty much the point, I think. There are many confounders, and it would be impossible to design and fund a study so large as to focus on any particular aspect. Anecdotal evidence like this is potentially useful, but there isn't any way to know if you're actually replicating the critical factors.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Which is pretty much the point, I think. There are many confounders, and it would be impossible to design and fund a study so large as to focus on any particular aspect. Anecdotal evidence like this is potentially useful, but there isn't any way to know if you're actually replicating the critical factors.

There's a ton of interesting research on the subject. I added more to my post above with more details. Netflix has a show called Down to Earth with Zac Efron. One of the episodes is in Sardinia, another Blue Zone area. There he talks to some of the older residents and some of the longevity researchers studying them, including Valter Longo, who I mentioned in the post above.

 

[stepford]

DW and I watched a few episodes of Down to Earth. We enjoyed the travelogue aspects while cooped up at home and Zac Efron is telegenic, but his utter credulity when it came to his tag along pseudoscience guru eventually became too much. Using that show as a source of any kind of legitimate research is questionable at best.

 

[jollystomper]

My view:

- The operative words in the article posted bty OP: "People who eat a lot of industrially processed junk food". A lot, or too much, of anything - even water - is not good for you. It is all about balance. After seeing this thread it made me hungry for donuts, so I went out and bought a couple. But these are my "donuts for the month".

- From the Blue Zones studies, a key is not just diet, but movement. In the U.S. we live way too sedentary lifestyles, and technology is driving us to that even more.

- Obesity is a big issue, it carries with it a lot of other unhealthy conditions. Personally I think that is a major reason why the coronavirus is so difficult to deal with.But it seems that doctors and nutritionists are perceived as "body shaming" when they point out that someone needs to lose weight.

- One of my "if I were king" dictates would be that everyone would get an annual free comprehensive physical, bloodwork, nutrition, and DNA checkup. I am surprised at the number of people I know who have not seen a doctor in years for that, and have the attitude "if something is wrong with me, I don't want to know".

- I think stress is the hardest thing to control, as IMHO the world thrives off of your stress. So fighting stress means, to a certain degree, fighting against what "society" wants or expects you to think and do about things.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

DW and I watched a few episodes of Down to Earth. We enjoyed the travelogue aspects while cooped up at home and Zac Efron is telegenic, but his utter credulity when it came to his tag along pseudoscience guru eventually became too much. Using that show as a source of any kind of legitimate research is questionable at best.

It is the researchers who get interviewed who are the longevity experts, not the show hosts. Zac Efron is one of the hosts. One of the researchers he and his friend interview is Valter Longo -the Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences and Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California –Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, Los Angeles, one of the leading centers for research on aging and age-related disease. Dr. Longo is also the Director of the Longevity and Cancer Program at the IFOM Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan, Italy.

One of the other researchers they interview is Gionanni Pes a Senior Researcher in the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine at the University of Sassari, Italy. He graduated in Medicine and received a PhD in Medical Statistics from the University of Pavia, Italy. ...Dr. Pes has published more than 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, and is co-author with Professor Poulain of the book Longevity and Identity in Sardinia. The Discovery of the Sardinian Blue Zone (2014).

 

[KB]

I WAS serious about playing with it. I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood. Very few dads were office workers. Maybe an HVAC dad came back with some thermostats to play with. They were a great source of copious mercury. Somehow I got a-hold of some from my dad, can't remember the source, but he was a plumber. He inhaled molten lead fumes for 45 years, so maybe he wasn't thinking about the danger of mercury. They played with it as kids too.

The silent light switches had a small glass tube of mercury in them, we used to play with them too, probably late 50s or early 60s. We would break the glass tube and roll the mercury around. It split into little balls, but then could be returned to one larger ball. Tons of fun. We rolled them around using our fingers also. It was later that mercury was deemed hazardous.

I also helped my Dad make bullets, he would melt the lead and put into molds. Same thing, lead wasn't thought to be hazardous then also.

 

[braumeister]

I also helped my Dad make bullets, he would melt the lead and put into molds. Same thing, lead wasn't thought to be hazardous then also.

Same here, only instead of bullets we made sinkers for fishing. Very common back in the 50s.

 

[harllee]

The discussion about donuts has me shaking my head. I have not eaten a donut in years and probably less than a dozen in my entire life. To me they are just fat dipped in sugar, not that tasty and no nutritional value. Give me a nice steak any day.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I wasn't serious about the "schmurkury" part. Of course mercury must be avoided and handled with extreme care.

I WAS serious about playing with it. I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood. Very few dads were office workers. Maybe an HVAC dad came back with some thermostats to play with. They were a great source of copious mercury. Somehow I got a-hold of some from my dad, can't remember the source, but he was a plumber. He inhaled molten lead fumes for 45 years, so maybe he wasn't thinking about the danger of mercury. They played with it as kids too.

Sure, it sounds crazy now. But back then, you broke a thermometer and we'd just sweep it up. No haz-mat situation like today.

Procedures change. They changed a lot starting in the early 70s. I'm talking late 60s when we did our playing.

We also played with an "Atomic Energy Lab" set, which now is apparently the most dangerous toy ever produced. And Jarts were a staple at family picnics.

None of this is right, and I'm not looking to the Good Old Days. As a matter of fact, I worry it really screwed me up! Especially helping dad melt the lead. I spent many a days with him firing up his lead pot and leaning over the melted lead.

Exactly right. I had essentially the same experiences as you. (I LOVED playing with mercury!) And I too now recognize this was NOT the good old days.

Anybody else use their molars to bite down on lead split-shot sinkers to affix them to the fishing line? (I think I see a few hands out there....)

 

[JoeWras]

Thank goodness I'm not the only one! I was starting to wonder if my friends and I were unique with our fascination of lead and mercury.

And, yes, I used to chomp on sinkers to affix them to fishing lines too!

It is also distressing to know just how much mercury is out there. Apparently, it isn't rare. I forgot about the light switches. The big one I remember were the thermostats.

I just saw something about the Aztec empire. Under one of their pyramids, they had a huge pool of mercury with figurines on the "shoreline." It was thought to honor their gods. Aztecs were able to refine mercury! And then there is all that mercury currently being used in the Peruvian Amazon to extract gold. Unregulated. Tons of it dumped into the environment. What a mess.

 

[misanman]

The silent light switches had a small glass tube of mercury in them, we used to play with them too, probably late 50s or early 60s.

I sat in the back of my high school chemistry class and played with mercury that they kept in the desk when class got a little slow. My older brother collected a lot of lead and melted it down for use in casting bullets. In contrast, someone broke a mercury thermometer in our local high school recently and it was treated as a hasmat emergency.

 

[momoftwo]

Telomeres.
Raising hand

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Thank goodness I'm not the only one! I was starting to wonder if my friends and I were unique with our fascination of lead and mercury.

And, yes, I used to chomp on sinkers to affix them to fishing lines too!

It is also distressing to know just how much mercury is out there. Apparently, it isn't rare. I forgot about the light switches. The big one I remember were the thermostats.

I just saw something about the Aztec empire. Under one of their pyramids, they had a huge pool of mercury with figurines on the "shoreline." It was thought to honor their gods. Aztecs were able to refine mercury! And then there is all that mercury currently being used in the Peruvian Amazon to extract gold. Unregulated. Tons of it dumped into the environment. What a mess.

They used to float the rotating glass lenses for lighthouses in a pool of mercury. Gee, a big pool of mercury on the shoreline of a body of water. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[EastWest Gal]

True, if we started counting like that, the number of processed foods we eat becomes huge. (Canned stewed tomatoes, canned beans, canned tuna, mayo, cheese, other dairy products, etc, etc.) What I do is to minimize exposures to some of the worst offenders, like items that include ingredients like partially hydragenated oils and high-fructose corn syrup.

I agree. I think one should define processed better. I also think the actual ingredients are more important. Cooking is a process, but cooking food kills bacteria and parasites that cause food borne illness. Cheese making is a process. Canning is also such a process for preserving foods and protecting against these same bacteria and parasites. Improperly canned foods can cause botulism, which is a special case. Pasteurization is the process of heating a food to high enough temperature for long enough to kill pathogens but not “cook” the food, altering its protein structure. With exception of fruit (eaten very sparingly) and some vegetables eaten raw, everything I eat is processed in some way.

I focus on low carb choices. I make my own breads-rolls and roti-with almond and coconut flour. Mayo made at home with eggs pasteurized with my sous vide machine, avocado and olive oil. I minimize seed oils, which are obtained by grinding, heating, and extracting with hexane.

Without defining processed food, one envisions eating everything only wild caught, foraged, and raw. Not really possible, or safe.

But cookies, crackers and donuts seem almost poisonous to me, because of the ingredients.

 

[Rianne]

I agree. I think one should define processed better. I also think the actual ingredients are more important. Cooking is a process, but cooking food kills bacteria and parasites that cause food borne illness. Cheese making is a process. Canning is also such a process for preserving foods and protecting against these same bacteria and parasites. Improperly canned foods can cause botulism, which is a special case. Pasteurization is the process of heating a food to high enough temperature for long enough to kill pathogens but not “cook” the food, altering its protein structure. With exception of fruit (eaten very sparingly) and some vegetables eaten raw, everything I eat is processed in some way.

I focus on low carb choices. I make my own breads-rolls and roti-with almond and coconut flour. Mayo made at home with eggs pasteurized with my sous vide machine, avocado and olive oil. I minimize seed oils, which are obtained by grinding, heating, and extracting with hexane.

Without defining processed food, one envisions eating everything only wild caught, foraged, and raw. Not really possible, or safe.

But cookies, crackers and donuts seem almost poisonous to me, because of the ingredients.

Excellent post. DH is a food scientist, PhD and worked in industry for 30 years. Everything stated above is accurate. Don't rule out frozen fruits and veggies. Just look at the ingredients. A friend of ours worked for a flavor company in Chicago. She said a cup of blueberry flavoring will kill an elephant. Although a fraction of a cup is used in say, blueberry muffins, I never forgot that.