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Processed Foods More Dangerous With Type 2 Diabetes

Oct 31, 2024 08:40AM ● By Bernice Butler

A team of researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health in nutritional sciences, kinesiology and health education at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin have found that consuming ultra-processed foods from diet sodas to packaged crackers and certain cereals and yogurts is closely linked with higher blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Their paper, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the team describes how having more ultra-processed foods laden with additives can lead to higher average blood glucose levels over a period of months, a measure called HbA1C, even more than just the presence of sugar and salt in the diet.

“There are a lot of ways to look at and measure healthy eating,” says senior author Marissa Burgermaster, assistant professor of nutritional sciences at UT. “We set out to see which measurement was associated with blood sugar control in people with Type 2 diabetes. We found that the more ultra-processed foods by weight in a person’s diet, the worse their blood sugar control was, and the more minimally processed or unprocessed foods in a person’s diet, the better their control was.”

This and other studies have indicated that eating more ultra-processed foods is linked to higher rates of cardiovascular disease, obesity, sleep disorders, anxiety, depression and early death. Synthetic flavors, added colors, emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners and other artificial ingredients may be in part to blame, and this would suggest that dietary guidelines may need to place more emphasis on ultra-processed foods.