Whatever the amount of calories ingested, an ultra transformed diet has harmful effects, particularly on fertility and cardio-methabolic health of men, concludes a recent clinical study.
“The consumption of ultra -transformed foods, regardless of an excessive contribution of calories, is detrimental to human health,” shows in particular this work published this Thursday, August 28 in the American magazine of cellular metabolism and coordinated by Romain Barrès, a researcher at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology of Sophia Antipolis (Inseserm, Inseserm, CNRS and Côte d’A d’A d’Az.
Worldwide, the consumption of ultra transformed food has jumped, and a growing number of epidemiological studies has indicated its strong correlation with a high risk of chronic diseases (obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular affections …), cancers, mental disorders, emphasize the authors of the randomized study (with the random distribution of the participants).
Until now, only three clinical studies, after a process similar to the evaluation of medicines, had tried to evaluate the direct effect of this healthy food and demonstrated that it caused a calorie consumption compared to an unprocessed diet.
A weight gain, +1.3 kg was observed
For this new study, 43 men aged 20 to 35, with good health, divided into two groups, followed two successive regimes, with a three -month break between the two: one rich in ultra transformed foods, the other based on products that are processed or not, for three weeks.
A subgroup received the two regimes, identical in calories, in moderate quantity, suitable for its age, weight and level of physical activity, the other the two excessive calorie regimes of 500 kcal daily.
Blood intake, semen analysis and other measures (weight, cholesterol …) were regular. In its notable results, the study establishes an impact on the fertility of the ultra transformed regime: the fall of the hormone that stimulates the production of sperm (FSH) and testosterone in most participants, decrease in the number of mobile sperm.
The pollutants present in ultra transformed foods, with the effects of endocrine disruptors, could play a role, judge researchers.
Another teaching: in three weeks, “the consumption of ultra transformed food compared to that of unprocessed foods led to a weight gain of 1.4 kg and 1.3 kg respectively in groups with an adequate and excessive caloric intake,” mainly fat.
People who have reduced the level of transformation of their diet have lost their weight. The researchers recognize the limits of their study: participants who have not been hospitalized, the measurement of their energy contribution was based on their statements, and the short duration of the diets, three weeks, can “induce acute responses”, including an inflammatory level that could have stabilized over time.
Source: BFM TV
