The 5 foods that make you waste a few minutes – and easy exchanges Wine News

It should come as no surprise to read that our diet has a marked effect on our health and long term longevity. But when researchers at the University of Michigan set out to quantify the health impact of different foods, drinks and snacks, the results were sobering.

They created a nutritional health index that assessed the nutritional impact and carbon footprint of nearly 6,000 foods and calculated the health burden of each. Their results showed that each hot dog a person eats takes 36 minutes off their healthy lifespan. Soft drinks (like coca cola) shortened life by 12 minutes, bacon by six minutes, and each devoured double cheeseburger was shaved by just under nine minutes. Research has also found that each serving of cheese consumed can take over a minute over a healthy lifespan.

But, before you ditch your weekend rashers, it’s not all bad news – the hint has also shown that it is also possible to add minutes to our healthy life expectancy by eating better foods. For example, each banana has been shown to add 13 and a half minutes to life, just like a serving of baked salmon.

Oddly enough, the researchers also found that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (the study was conducted in America, after all) adds 33 minutes to life. The study suggests that this is due to the high nut content, because nuts are so good for us. The same cannot be said for a jam sandwich, however.

At this point you might be wondering: of course hot dogs shouldn’t be the mainstay of our diet, but having one every now and then certainly can’t hurt? The study’s authors said the numbers don’t translate into significant dietary changes and that each food contributes to a “unique equation” that varies from person to person. So, no, eating a single hot dog won’t necessarily cause you to lose 36 minutes of life in real time, but almost all experts agree that the category they fall into – ultra-processed foods. (UPF) – is very bad news for our health. .

A growing body of research links FUP (which now accounts for more than half of the daily calorie intake of an average person in the UK) with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. A study from the University of Navarre found that UPFs accelerate the aging of the body and increase the risk of death from all causes.

Increasingly, experts are sending the message that calories aren’t equal – no matter where they come from. A landmark 2019 study by the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease fed two groups of participants with “equally good” diets that matched calories, sugar, fat, fiber, and macronutrients. The only difference is that one group was fed ultra-processed foods and the other group was fed unprocessed foods.

The results were striking – the ultra-processed group ate an additional five hundred calories per day and gained a significant amount of weight (one pound over two weeks). It is therefore worth being vigilant about what we put on our plates.

These are the foods to be wary of – and equally delicious alternatives.

1. Hot dogs