Eating junk food makes you older faster

A diet full of highly processed foods has been linked to various chronic diseases, as well as increased cellular ageing. — AFP

People who eat a lot of industrially-processed junk food are more likely to exhibit a change in their chromosomes linked to ageing, according to research presented on Sept 2 (2020) at the virtual European and International Conference on Obesity.

People who had three or more servings of so-called “ultra-processed food” per day doubled the odds that their telomeres – strands of DNA and proteins found on the ends of chromosomes – would be shorter, compared to those who rarely consumed such foods, scientists from the University of Navarra in Spain reported.