Processed foods highly correlated with obesity epidemic in the US

Processed foods highly correlated with obesity epidemic in the US (ScienceDaily)

• By comparing the US diet to diets in so-called blue zones (areas with populations living to the age of 100 without chronic disease), researchers have shown a correlation between a rise in ultra-processed food consumption and the country’s rising obesity epidemic.
• The foods with the highest correlation to weight gain include potato chips, sugar sweetened beverages, sweets and desserts, refined grains, red meats, and processed meats.

Analysis and Comments

• Not a surprising finding, of course, but the study adds to the calls for limiting the availability of processed foods in order to battle the global obesity and related chronic disease epidemic.
• “Lifestyle medicine” as put by the author of the study will need to be emphasised by healthcare providers going forward.
• In loosely related news, researchers have found that over one third of all healthcare costs in the US were due to insurance company overhead and provider time spent on billing (i.e. administration costs), amounting to more than US$800bn in 2017 – more than four times the per-capita administrative costs in Canada.
• North America currently spends 14% of its healthcare expenditure on diabètes.

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