Associations of ultraprocessed food consumption with mortality among participants with a history of cancer: a prospective cohort analysis

Background

Although high ultraprocessed food (UPF) consumption has been linked with increased mortality risk in the general population, whether UPFs harm participants with a history of cancer remains unclear.

Objectives

This study aimed to evaluate the association of UPF consumption with mortality among participants with a history of cancer.

Methods

Prospective cohort analysis was conducted on 13,640 participants with a history of cancer from the UK Biobank. UPFs were defined by the Nova classification. UPF consumption was calculated as the weight proportion of UPFs in the total food consumption. Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess the association between UPF consumption and mortality among participants with a history of cancer.

Results

The median UPF consumption was 29.25% (interquartile range [IQR]: 19.46%–40.62%) for males and 25.81% (IQR: 16.61%–36.35%) for females in the total diet among participants with a history of cancer. During a median follow-up of 10.77 years, 1611 deaths were documented. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) among participants in the highest quartile of UPF consumption relative to the lowest were 1.17 (1.02, 1.35) for all-cause mortality and 1.22 (1.03, 1.44) for cancer-related mortality.

Conclusions

Higher UPF consumption after the diagnosis among participants with a history of cancer is associated with higher risk of mortality.