Porto, Dec. 3, 2024 (Lusa) - Researchers from the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP) have concluded that children who consume more ultra-processed foods gain weight faster and grow more slowly, they said on Tuesday.
The University of Porto Institute said in a statement that the study evaluated the relationship between different consumption patterns of ultra-processed foods throughout childhood, growth trajectories, and adiposity [fat accumulation] from childhood to adolescence.
The research used data from 8,647 children from the Geração XXI "cohort", a longitudinal study by the institute following children born in public maternity hospitals in the Porto Metropolitan Area and their mothers since 2005.
The children's food consumption was assessed using questionnaires at the ages of 4, 7, and 10, and the food was categorised according to the degree of processing.
The study identified four patterns of consumption of ultra-processed foods between the ages of four and 10: "constantly lower consumption" (15.4% of the sample), "constantly intermediate consumption" (56.4% of the sample), "transition from lower to higher consumption", i.e. lower at 4 and 7 years and higher at 10 (17.2% of the sample) and "constantly higher consumption" (17.1% of the sample).
The researchers analysed information from the ages of 4 to 13 to assess body weight, height, body mass index, waist circumference, and fat mass percentage.
"The findings revealed that a high consumption of ultra-processed foods in childhood was associated with a greater acceleration in body weight, body mass index, waist circumference and fat mass percentage in adolescence."
High consumption of these foods also translated into "less acceleration in height".
At the age of 4, 16.9% of the foods they consumed daily were ultra-processed, at the age of 7 19.4% and at the age of 10 25.6%.
"Curiously, no pattern of decreasing consumption of ultra-processed foods over time was found," said study author Vânia Magalhães, quoted in the press release.
The researchers also assessed whether the trajectories of growth and adiposity throughout childhood were related to consumption patterns of ultra-processed foods.
"Our results showed that the dose and duration of exposure to ultra-processed foods contribute to worse growth and adiposity trajectories at these ages," adds the researcher.
According to Vânia Magalhães, the study's results point to the need for "early interventions that limit the consumption of ultra-processed foods to promote adequate growth in children and young people".
The study, authored by Vânia Magalhães, was supervised by Carla Lopes, both from the Nutrition and Cardiometabolic Health Laboratory of ISPUP's Epidemiology Research Unit.
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