Whatever the amount of calories ingested, an ultra-transformed diet has deleterious effects, particularly on fertility and cardio-metabolic health of men, concludes a recent clinical study.
“The consumption of ultra-transformed foods in itself, regardless of an excessive calorie intake, is harmful to human health”, shows in particular this work published Thursday in the American journal “Cell Metabolism” and coordinated by Romain Barrès, researcher at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology of Sophia Antipolis (Inserm, CNRS and Côte d’Azur), in France.
Globally, the consumption of ultra-transformed food has jumped, and an increasing number of epidemiological studies has pointed out its strong correlation with a high risk of chronic diseases (obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular conditions …), cancers, mental disorders, stress the authors of the randomized study (with random distribution of the participants).
So far, only three clinical studies, following a process similar to the evaluation of drugs, had sought to assess the direct effect of this health food and shown that it caused caloric overconsumption compared to an unprocessed diet.
Fall of testosterone
For this new study, 43 men aged 20 to 35, in good health, divided into two groups, followed two successive regimes, with a three-month break between the two: one rich in ultra-transformed food, the other based on products that are little or not processed, for three weeks.
A subgroup received the two regimes, identical in calories, in moderate quantity, adequate for their age, weight and level of physical activity, the other the two excess calories regimes of 500 kcal daily.
Blood intake, semen analyzes and other measures (weight, cholesterol …) were regular.
In its notable results, the study establishes an impact on the fertility of the ultra-transformed regime: falling hormone stimulating the production of sperm (FSH) and testosterone in most participants, decrease in the number of mobile sperm.
Pollutants present in ultra-transformed foods, with the effects of endocrine disruptors, could notably play a role, judge the researchers.
Weight gain
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 in fat.
Individuals having reduced the level of transformation of their diet have notably lost weight.
Researchers recognize limits for their study: participants who have not been hospitalized, the measurement of their energy contribution was based on their statements, and the short duration of diets, three weeks, can “have induced acute responses”, including an inflammatory level which could have stabilized with time.
