Food processing and cancer risk in Europe: results from the prospective EPIC cohort study

Ultra-processed food consumption, mediating biomarkers, and risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a prospective cohort study in the UK Biobank

“…In a recent study conducted by the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, the substitution of 10% UPFs with 10% minimally processed foods was linked to a 20% decrease in risk for head and neck cancers, 7% for colon cancer, and 27% for hepatocellular carcinoma. 44 Another cohort study also showed that replacing UPF with UNPFs reduced mortality rates. 45 This evidence highlights that importance of increasing the intake of UNPFs, such as whole grains, dairy products, vegetables, and fruits, in preventing various adverse health events.…”

Ultra‐processed food and non‐communicable diseases in the United Kingdom: A narrative review and thematic synthesis of literature

“…For every 10% increase in UPF consumption, there was an associated increased incidence of overall (HR 1.02 [95% CI 1.01–1.04]) and ovarian‐specific (1.19 [1.08–1.30]) cancer, as well as an associated increased risk of overall (1.06 [1.03–1.09]), ovarian (1.30 [1.13–1.50]), and breast (1.16 [1.02–1.32]) cancer‐related mortality 47 . A second study of 450,111 EPIC study participants, also adjusting for sex, smoking, education, physical activity, height, and diabetes, concluded that substituting 10% of NOVA group 4 foods for an equal amount of NOVA group 1 foods would be associated with a 4% reduced risk of overall cancer (HR 0.96 [95% CI 0.95–0.97]), 20% reduced risk of head and neck cancers (0.80 [0.75–0.85]), 43% reduced risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (0·57 [0.51–0.64]), 12% reduced risk of CRC (0.88 [0.85–0.92]), 23% reduced risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (0.77 [0.68–0.87]), and 7% reduced risk of postmenopausal breast cancer (0.93 [0.90–0.97]) 57 (Table 2). A cohort of 104,980 French adults in the NutriNet‐Santé study concluded that every 10% increase in dietary UPFs was associated with a 12% increase in overall (1.12 [1.06–1.18]), and 11% increase in breast (1.11 [1.02–1.22]), cancer risk after adjustment for comparable confounding variables to the UK Biobank study 58 .…”

Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyle after Bowel Cancer (HEAL ABC) – Feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial

“…In this study, 40% of the energy consumed by participants came from UPFs at baseline, but it decreased to 28.5% in the intervention group at six months follow-up. Recent studies showed that every 10% increase in ultra-processed food in a diet leads to an increased incidence of cancer overall by 2% (46) and that substituting 10% of processed food and UPFs with an equal amount of minimally processed foods is associated with reduced overall cancer risk (HR 0•96, 95% CI 0•95-0•97) (47). The HEAL ABC intervention did not directly focus on reducing UPFs in the diet.…”