根据发表在《家庭医学和社区健康》杂志上的一项新研究，食用更多的超加工食品会导致更高的健康风险，包括死亡。
研究人员发现，消费更多的超加工食品会增加心脏病、中风、肥胖、糖尿病、抑郁和焦虑、消化问题和癌症的风险。
注册营养师玛雅·费勒（Maya Feller）告诉美国广播公司新闻（ABC News），超加工食品含有“大量添加的糖、盐和脂肪”，可能非常可口，这意味着它们被设计成味道特别诱人。
例子包括包装零食、加工肉制品、饼干、蛋糕、含糖饮料和许多即食餐。
“超加工食品是公共卫生的主要问题之一，”这项研究的主要作者，孙逸仙纪念医院的医生和杜克-新加坡国立大学医学院的研究员小刘博士告诉美国广播公司新闻。
在这项研究中，研究人员通过回顾50多项研究，评估了全球近900万成年人在2至32年的时间范围内的饮食，调查了全球超加工食品的摄入量。
在美国，心血管疾病是导致死亡的主要原因，据发现，在摄入更多的超加工食品后，心血管疾病的风险增加了24%。
食用超加工食品的人越多，健康状况不佳的风险就越高。每天每增加100克，患心脏病的风险增加14%，患高血压的风险增加11%。
过度加工食品的高消费量也与代谢疾病的高风险有关，糖尿病的风险增加了24%，肥胖症的风险增加了23%。
根据疾病预防控制中心的数据，美国有超过1亿人患有肥胖症，超过2200万人患有严重肥胖症。该机构还发现，普通美国人从超加工食品中获得超过一半的每日热量。
并非所有的加工食品都是一样的，费勒说，用一个苹果来解释区别。
“你有一棵苹果树，树上的苹果都是完整的。你把苹果从树上摘下来，这是加工的一个步骤。你把苹果切片。这是另一个处理步骤。你把苹果捣成泥。你没有添加任何东西。那也是加工，”她说。
她解释说，随着更多配料的加入，食物变得更加加工。
蔬菜罐头、奶酪和新鲜制作的面包被认为是加工过的，因为可能添加了盐、糖或油来保存它们。未加工或最低限度加工的食品可以包括新鲜或冷冻的水果和蔬菜、鸡蛋、牛奶、豆类、谷物、肉类和不含盐、糖、油或添加剂的鱼。
Feller说，购物时，消费者可以查看成分表，更好地了解食品的加工过程。
“翻转包装，如果前面写着蓝莓，那么成分表应该写蓝莓，”她说。
对于那些试图限制超加工食品而又不显著增加食品账单的人来说，冷冻和罐装食品仍然是有用的选择。
“去冷冻室。寻找没有添加任何东西的冷冻蔬菜、冷冻水果、冷冻谷物，”Feller补充道。
她还推荐低钠罐头食品和平价主食，如意大利面、米饭和豆类。
对于试图帮助孩子做出更健康选择的父母来说，Feller指出，严格的控制可能比在家教育和树立健康习惯更不现实。
“我们无法控制他们午餐时做什么，”她说。“一旦他们离开了家，这是关于教育，积极的榜样和开放的对话。”
她补充说，家庭餐让父母对孩子在家接触的食物有更多的控制，而关于营养的对话可以帮助指导他们自己做出选择。
Feller说，人们不需要从饮食中消除所有的超加工食品。相反，该研究指出，减少总摄入量的潜在好处是一个更容易实现的目标。
“不要指望你会在一夜之间换掉你的餐具室或冰箱，”费勒说。“选择两到三种你经常吃的超加工食品，并考虑用它们来代替完整的或最少加工的食品。”
研究人员指出，人们可以通过改善饮食来降低这些健康状况的风险，包括限制超加工食品，多吃蔬菜和水果。
＂在我们的现代社会，我们的饮食和食品可能不安全…我们应该多吃蔬菜，减少过度加工食品，使我们更健康，＂刘说。
Eating more ultra-processed foods linked toworse health， study finds
Eating more ultra-processed foods is linked to higher health risks， including death， according to a new study published in Family Medicine and Community Health．
Researchers found that consuming higher amounts of ultra-processed foods increased the risk of heart disease， strokes， obesity， diabetes， depression and anxiety， digestive issues， and cancer．
Ultra-processed foods contain “significant amounts of added sugars， salts， fats” and can be hyper-palatable， meaning they are engineered to taste especially appealing， Maya Feller， a registered dietitian， told ABC News．
Examples include packaged snacks， processed meat products， cookies， cakes， sugary drinks， and many ready-to-eat meals．
“Ultra-processed food is one of the major problems in public health，” Dr． Xiao Liu， lead author of the study， a physician at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital and research fellow at Duke-NUS Medical School， told ABC News．
In the study， researchers examined the intake of ultra-processed foods globally， by reviewing over 50 studies that evaluated the diets of nearly 9 million adults worldwide over a timeframe ranging from 2 to 32 years．
The risk of cardiovascular disease， which is the leading cause of death in the United States， was found to increase by 24% after consuming higher amounts of ultra-processed foods．
The more people ate ultra-processed foods， the higher their risk of poor health outcomes． Each additional 100 grams a day was linked to a 14% higher heart risk and an 11% higher blood pressure risk．
More than 100 million Americans in the United States are living with obesity and more than 22 million have severe obesity， according to numbers from the CDC． The agency also found that the average American gets over half their daily calories from ultra-processed foods．
Not all processed foods are the same，Feller said， using an apple to explain the difference．
“You have a tree with apples， and the apples on the tree are in their whole form． You take the apple off the tree， and that is a step of processing． You slice the apple． That’s another step of processing． You puree the apple． You haven’t added anything to it． That’s also processing，” she said．
As more ingredients are added， the food becomes more processed， she explained．
Canned vegetables， cheese， and freshly made bread are considered processed because salt， sugar， or oil may have been added to preserve them． Unprocessed or minimally processed foods can include fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables， eggs， milk， beans， grains， meat， and fish that do not have salt， sugar， oils or additives．
When shopping， Feller said consumers can look at ingredient lists to get a better sense of how processed a food is．
“Flip the package over， and if the front says blueberries， then the ingredient list should say blueberries，” she said．
For people trying to limit ultra-processed foods without significantly increasing their grocery bills， frozen and canned foods can still be useful options．
“Go to the freezer section． Look for frozen vegetables， frozen fruits， frozen grains that have nothing added to them，” Feller added．
She also recommended lower-sodium canned foods and affordable staples such as pasta， rice and beans．
For parents trying to help children make healthier choices， Feller noted that strict control may be less realistic than education and modeling healthy habits at home．
“We can’t control what they do when they have at lunch，” she said． “Once they’ve left the house， it’s about education， positive modeling and open conversation．”
She added that family meals give parents more control over the foods children are exposed to at home， while conversations about nutrition can help guide the choices they make on their own．
Feller says that people do not need to eliminate all ultra-processed foods from their diets． Instead， the research points to the potential benefits of reducing overall intake as a more reachable goal．
“Don’t expect that you’re going to swap your pantry over or your refrigerator overnight，” Feller said． “Choose two or three things that you eat on a regular basis that are ultra-processed and think about swapping those out for things in their whole or minimally processed form．”
The researchers noted that people can lower their risk of these health conditions by improving their diets， which include limiting ultra-processed foods and eating more vegetables and fruits．
“In our modern society， our diet and food is maybe not safe… we should eat more vegetables and reduce the ultra-processed food to make us healthier，” said Liu．
