Your kids' ultraprocessed food consumption may put them at higher risk, study shows

The ultraprocessed foods your kids eat now may be putting them at greater risk for cardiometabolic problems – like heart attack, stroke and diabetes – in adulthood, a new study suggests.

The ultraprocessed foods your kids eat now may be putting them at greater risk for cardiometabolic problems – like heart attack, stroke and diabetes – in adulthood, a new study suggests.

“One of the important things to learn is that some of the things that we deal with in the adult world, more likely than not start very early in life,” said Dr. Stuart Berger, a pediatric cardiologist and chair of the section of cardiology and cardiac surgery for the American Academy of Pediatrics. He was not involved in the research.

The study, published Friday in JAMA Network Open, analyzed data from more than 1,400 children ages 3 to 6 recruited from schools across seven cities in Spain.

The children’s caregivers met with researchers in person and completed questionnaires at home on physical activity, food consumption and demographics from 2019 to 2022, according to the study.

Researchers divided the data from the children into three groups based on the amount of ultraprocessed food they ate. Children who consumed the most ultraprocessed foods were more likely to have risk factors like a higher body mass index, systolic blood pressure and waist-to-height ratio, the study showed.

Ultraprocessed foods are those that contain ingredients “never or rarely used in kitchens, or classes of additives whose function is to make the final product palatable or more appealing,” according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Those ingredients — found in things such as sodas, chips, packaged soups, chicken nuggets and ice cream — can include preservatives against mould or bacteria, artificial colouring, emulsifiers to stop separation, and added or altered sugar, salt and fats to make food more appealing.