July 18, 2022, 2:06 pm | Read time: 5 minutes

“You are what you eat” is a well-known saying. A phrase that parents, in particular, should take to heart. A study now confirms that children who frequently consume highly processed foods can harm their health in the long run.¹ Previous research has already shown that pizza, sweets, soft drinks, and the like are associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases in adults.² The latest study is now one of the first to also establish a connection to the physical fitness of children.

Highly Processed Foods and Their Risk

The consumption of ready-made meals is a known risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in adults, but few studies have examined the link between this risk and the consumption of highly processed foods in childhood. U.S. researchers have now done just that, analyzing data from the “National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) National Youth Fitness Survey.” They collected data on physical activity, fitness, and food intake (including highly processed foods) from more than 1,500 U.S. children aged 3 to 15 through interviews and fitness tests.

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Consequences for Cardiovascular System and Motor Skills

The data showed that children who consume more highly processed foods have poorer motor skills and cardiovascular fitness. Children aged 12 to 15 who ate more ready-made meals than those who consumed less also had poorer cardiovascular health. Even among 3- to 5-year-olds, poorer mobility was observed.

As a measure of physical fitness, the researchers used the development of the musculoskeletal system. The analysis revealed that children with the worst scores consumed 273 more calories of ready-made meals per day than the 3- to 5-year-olds with the highest scores. For older children, cardiovascular fitness was used as a benchmark. The study showed that teenagers and preschoolers with good cardiovascular fitness consumed 226 fewer calories from highly processed foods daily than those without healthy cardiovascular fitness.

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Four-Stage Food Processing System

The basis for this study was the so-called NOVA classification system. It was developed at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and classifies foods according to their degree of processing. The German Society for Nutritional Therapy and Prevention (FET) e.V. also issues its recommendations based on this four-stage system.³ Foods are divided into the following groups:

1. Group: Unprocessed to Minimally Processed Foods

• Edible parts of plants (seeds, fruits, leaves, stems, roots) or animals (muscles, organs, eggs, milk)
• Mushrooms
• Beverages (water, tea, coffee)

Minimally processed means:

• Removing inedible or unwanted parts
• Drying, crushing, grinding, and cutting
• Filtering, roasting, cooking
• Non-alcoholic fermentation and pasteurization
• Cooling, freezing, pickling
• Vacuum packaging
• Should make up the majority of daily nutrition

2. Group: Processed Ingredients (“Cooking Ingredients”)

• Vegetable oils, butter, sugar, salt
• Ingredients are usually not consumed in isolation or alone but are added in small amounts to foods from the first stage for flavor and texture

3. Group: Processed Foods

• Freshly baked bread and rolls
• Aged cheese
• Canned vegetables, fruits, and fish
• Mostly combined foods from the first and second stages, usually consisting of 3-4 ingredients
• Produced using various preservation (smoking, curing), cooking methods, or fermentation processes

4. Group: Highly Processed Foods

• Often consist of individual ingredients and rarely of whole foods
• Ready-made products
• Most snacks
• Soft drinks
• Sweets
• Composite meat and fish products like sausage
• Pre-packaged frozen meals and instant products
• Additives or additives (E-numbers and flavors) as well as extracts (e.g., individual sugars, milk components, gluten, etc.)

Very highly processed or highly processed foods in this study include products found in Group 4. These include packaged snacks, breakfast cereals, sweets, sodas, sweetened juices and yogurts, canned soups, or ready-made meals like pizza, hot dogs, burgers, and chicken nuggets.

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Reducing Highly Processed Foods

Highly processed foods like ready-made meals or snacks are quick and easy to pack in a school bag, but the study shows how important healthy meals are. Investing in nutrition is essentially investing in your child’s future health. As a next step, researchers plan to examine consumption patterns for ready-made foods by age group in more detail. Do children, for example, consume more of these products for breakfast, lunch, or as a snack? A better understanding of how and when they are consumed could be helpful in future measures to promote healthy eating. In general, those who consume foods from Group 4 less frequently and more often from Groups 1 and 2 do something good for their health in the long term.

Sources

• 1. Vernarelli J., Nuzie K., Melzer D. (2022). Ultraprocessed Food Intake Is Associated With Poor Cardiovascular Fitness in US Children and Adolescents. Current Developments in Nutrition.
• 2. Juul F., Vaidean G., Lin Y. et al. (2021). Ultra-Processed Foods and Incident Cardiovascular Disease in the Framingham Offspring Study. Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
• 3. Fachgesellschaft für Ernährungstherapie und Prävention (FET) e.V. (2021). 4-Stufen-System für Lebensmittel nach dem Verarbeitungsgrad. (accessed on 7/18/2022)