New charge for ‘junk food’: in addition to being among the main causes of obesity and overweight in children, a study conducted by Ceinge Advanced Biotechnologies ‘Franco Salvatore’ on a total of 105,151 children in the Campania region has discovered that it facilitates also the appearance of food allergies.
Food allergies on the rise rapidly
After detecting a significant increase in food allergy cases of around 34% over the last decade, researchers discovered that this increase in prevalence was three times greater in children under 3 years of age, and for this reason they wanted look for the cause, discovering that it lies largely in the increased consumption of ultra-processed foods, the so-called ‘junk food’.
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According to the team led Roberto Berni Canani, full professor of Paediatrics, director of the Pediatric Allergology program of the Federico II University of Naples and director of the Ceinge ImmunoNutrition Laboratory, those foods with low nutritional value and high fat or sugar content are strongly ‘under accusation’, typical of industrial preparations such as snacks, sweet or savory packaged snacks, frozen pizzas and chips, hamburgers, frankfurters, hot dogs, sugary soft drinks, elaborate desserts, mass-packaged bread and focaccias, processed meats and pre-packaged frozen dishes. In fact, researchers have demonstrated how these foods are able to alter the functions of the child’s immune system, favoring the development of food allergies.
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Two-thirds of the calories consumed by children come from ultra-processed foods
“The composition of ultra-processed foods – explains Roberto Berni Canani – can be simply summarized like this: they are very rich in what is bad for you and little or nothing in what is good for you. They are rich in sugars, salt, carbohydrates and hydrogenated fats and poor in fibre, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Their success depends on something else: they are good and are ready to eat immediately, at the latest after a quick passage in the microwave. According to a recent study conducted in the USA – recalls the expert – 67% of the calories in a child’s diet now come from ultra-processed foods. It happens in the United States. But it is a rapidly growing trend in Italy too.”
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“We comparatively evaluated the consumption of ultra-processed foods in a population of pediatric patients suffering from food allergy and in a population of healthy children – explains Berni Canani – Well, the consumption of ultra-processed foods was almost double in children who had developed allergies food compared to healthy children. Furthermore, with a non-invasive technique that allows us to study the accumulation of harmful substances present in these foods in the skin of children, used for the first time in pediatric age in this study, we have demonstrated a very high accumulation greater number of these substances in the tissues of children suffering from food allergy”.
Alterations of the intestinal barrier
“Subsequently – he adds – to identify a causal link between exposure to ultra-processed foods and the development of food allergy, we conducted a series of experiments on human cells. The results of these experiments highlighted that junk foods are in fact powerful inducers of food allergy as it is capable of causing severe alterations of the intestinal barrier, inflammation and a strong allergic response”.
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“The results of this study are of great importance for understanding the causes of the worrying continuously increasing trend in incidence and prevalence of cases of food allergy in children in the Western world and – claims the pediatrician – open the way to an important, simple and economical prevention strategy: drastically reduce the consumption of ultra-processed commercial foods and encourage our children to consume fresh foods rich in fruit, vegetables, olive oil, fish and legumes. Better if cooked at low temperatures”. The studiopublished in the ‘Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology’, was supported by the European Union’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan – Next Generation Eu and the Ministry of Health.