The Study
Ultra-processed foods, unprocessed/minimally processed foods and risk of frailty in a cohort of U.S. females.
This study watched a big group of older women for over 25 years and noticed that those who ate more packaged and processed foods tended to become frail more often. But it didn’t make anyone change their diet — it just watched what happened, so we can’t say the processed food caused the frailty, only that they often happened together.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
This study followed older women for over 25 years to see if eating lots of packaged, processed foods like sodas, snacks, and ready-made meals made them more likely to become frail—meaning weaker, slower, and more easily tired.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 560 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes—this means even if you eat lots of vegetables and fruits, eating too many packaged snacks, sugary drinks, or processed desserts may still make you more likely to lose strength and independence as you get older.
- 2Women who ate the most ultraprocessed foods had a 31% higher chance of becoming frail.
- 3Even women who ate very healthy diets overall still had a 40% higher frailty risk if they ate lots of UPFs.
- 4But eating whole grains that were ultraprocessed didn’t increase risk.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The American journal of clinical nutrition
Year
2024
Authors
T. Fung, S. Rossato, Zhangling Chen, Neha Khandpur, F. Rodríguez‐Artalejo, Walter C Willett, E. Struijk, E. López-García
Related Content
Claims (6)
People who eat more unprocessed or minimally processed foods do not have a lower risk of frailty when their overall diet quality is taken into account.
Older women who eat the most ultraprocessed foods have a 40% higher risk of frailty than those who eat the least, even if their overall diet is otherwise high quality.
People who eat more artificial and sugar-sweetened beverages, fat spreads, condiments, yogurt-based desserts, and other ultraprocessed foods have higher frailty risk, while those who eat ultraprocessed whole grains do not show increased frailty risk.
Eating highly processed foods with additives, added sugar, and excess salt leads to worse health outcomes in humans.
Older U.S. women who eat more ultraprocessed foods have a 31% higher risk of developing frailty over 26 years, even when their overall diet quality is accounted for.
Replacing one daily serving of ultraprocessed meat, poultry, or fish with unprocessed versions reduces frailty risk by 13%, and replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with water reduces frailty risk by 5%.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.