Ultra-processed foods may be linked to early death

1 hour ago Share Save Philippa Roxby Health reporter Share Save

Getty Images Crisps, croissants, doughnuts, muffins, sweets and hot dogs all count as ultra-processed food

People who eat lots of ultra-processed foods (UPF) may be at greater risk of dying early, a study in eight countries including the UK and the US suggests. Processed meats, biscuits, fizzy drinks, ice cream and some breakfast cereals are examples of UPF, which are becoming increasingly common around the world. UPFs tend to contain more than five ingredients, which are not usually found in home cooking, such as additives, sweeteners and chemicals to improve the food's texture or appearance. Some experts say it's not known why UPFs are linked to poor health - there is little evidence it's down to the processing itself and could be because these foods contain high levels of fat, salt and sugar.

'Artificial ingredients'

The researchers behind the study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, looked at previous research to estimate the impact of ultra-processed food intake on mortality. The study cannot definitively prove that UPFs caused any premature deaths. This is because the amount of ultra-processed foods in someone's diet is also linked to their overall diet, exercise levels, wider lifestyle and wealth, which can all also affect health. The studies looked at surveys of people's diets and at data on deaths from eight countries - Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, UK and US. The report estimates that in the UK and the US, where UPFs account for more than half of calorie intake, 14% of early deaths could be linked to the harms they cause. In countries such as Colombia and Brazil, where UPF intake is much lower (less than 20% of calorie intake), the study estimated these foods are linked to around 4% of premature deaths. Lead study author Dr Eduardo Nilson, from Brazil, said UPFs affected health "because of the changes in the foods during industrial processing and the use of artificial ingredients, including colorants, artificial flavours and sweeteners, emulsifiers, and many other additives and processing aids". By their calculations, in the US in 2018, there were 124,000 premature deaths due to the consumption of ultra-processed food. In the UK, nearly 18,000. The study says governments should update their dietary advice to urge people to cut back on these foods.

What is ultra-processed food?

There is no one definition that everyone agrees on, but the NOVA classification is often used. Examples include: cakes

crisps

supermarket bread

ready meals

processed meat

chicken nuggets

fish fingers

yoghurts

tofu

baby formula

Still questions to answer

This week will bring the UK its warmest weather of the year.

Temperatures are currently expected to peak at 27 or 28C (81-82F) on Thursday - 1 May - but there is a small chance that 27C could be reached by Wednesday.

That would mark the hottest April weather for seven years.

The warmth will be accompanied by dry conditions and sunshine bringing high UV and pollen levels.

'Carney's not the messiah!' How 10 Canadians decided who to back

3 hours ago Share Save Ali Abbas Ahmadi BBC News Reporting from Toronto Share Save

BBC

Election day is finally upon us as a short but packed campaign reaches its climax. Later on Monday, Canadians will discover who will lead their country into what seems like a difficult and uncertain future as the country faces a trade war with its biggest economic partner, the US. The BBC has spoken to 10 voters about who they are voting for and what their chief concerns are. Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Here is what they had to say.

Gwendolyn Slover - Summerside, Prince Edward Island

Gwendolyn, 69, is voting Conservative and said the last Liberal government destroyed Canada. The reason I'm voting for the Conservative Party is because during the last 10 years, the Liberal government has really brought Canada to its knees. It's really made Canada a cautionary tale about what not to be. Mark Carney is not a Messiah. He seems to be a very nice man, but not much more. I don't trust him, I see him as another Justin Trudeau, possibly even worse. My top concern is not this so-called crisis with the US; I want Canadians to have some hope for the future, while right now there's a sense of despair. I know many people saw Pierre Poilievre as an attack dog when he was the opposition leader, but since he's been campaigning to be PM, I've seen a different side of him. He seems to really be able to connect with ordinary people. It's absolutely baffling [that the Conservatives lost a 20 point lead]. I think people are going to be very, very disappointed. The Liberals are the same party; Carney is just one person. And he's not going to change anything.

Harry Topikian - Montreal, Quebec

The 66-year-old engineer is a Conservative Party member, but voted Liberal this election. Rather than vote for a party, I voted for the leader of the party. I voted Liberal, and that has much to do with Carney and the experience that he has. When I'm hiring someone for work, I ask for a CV. You see the things [Carney] has done at the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and his competence and contacts impress me. Poilievre is a career politician, and we've had nine years of a career politician. I'm a Conservative Party member, I would normally have voted Conservative, but I don't think Poilievre has the required experience [to be prime minister]. It's probably the first time in my life I'm voting for a leader as opposed to a party.

Adam Sandell - Thetis Island, British Columbia

Adam, 52, is a British-Canadian doctor working at a hospital on a remote Indigenous reserve. The NDP is offering more to Indigenous people, and that's a big reason why I'll be voting NDP. Indigenous voices and needs are getting lost in this election. So I'm most concerned about what Canada's next government is going to do about, for example, the scandal that there are reserves in one of the richest countries in the world where people still don't have clean running water. I judge a country by how it treats its neediest. I think we can't forget about that just because of what is happening with US and Canada at the moment.

Stacey Jyrkkanen - Kamloops, British Columbia

Stacey, 56, is so frustrated with the Liberal government that she is voting Conservative for the first time in her life. I have been a lifelong federal Liberal Party voter and Liberal Party member. This year I voted Conservative, and I also got my Conservative membership. The last 14 years of the Liberals hasn't done anything. There's been a lot of things that they did that have disaffected people. I used to be in the military, and it drives me insane as a vet to see how this government has gutted the Canadian armed forces. If the US was going to try to take Canada, we wouldn't have a hope. If Russia decided to attack our north, we wouldn't have a hope. I know that Trump is a big problem. But Mark Carney, all he's so far campaigned on is 'I'm the best man to deal with Trump'. All the big issues that were there before - housing, affordability, etc - those are still there. He's just Trudeau-lite. He's more of the same.

Alex Kushniruk - St Catharines

Alex, a 25-year-old recent graduate, said this election is about leadership. I'm voting for my local Liberal candidate, and I want Mark Carney as our PM because I think he's the man for the job right now. My election issue is leadership. It's about who's going to lead us, especially against the US. Carney is not really a politician, which I like. He doesn't speak in soundbites. I also appreciate that he's way less showy - [former prime minister] Trudeau was a celebrity, but he's more down to earth. I have a very unfavourable opinion of Mr Poilievre. Most Canadians don't like Donald Trump, but there's a section of the Conservative base that does like him. And I do see a link between Trump and Poilievre. They're not the same, but [Poilievre] is definitely fishing in the same right-wing waters.

Cole Hibbert - Calgary, Alberta

Cole, 21, will cast his first ever vote in a federal election for the Conservatives. I've just been very disappointed by the Liberal leadership for the past decade - it's been half of my life - and I want to see a change. It is the primary job of whoever becomes prime minister to focus absolutely on domestic policy and to make Canada stronger. So I don't think renegotiating trade deals with the United States is going to be as important as dealing with internal issues. And particularly in western Canada, [the Conservative] platform is focused on us a lot more than the Liberals' [platform] is.

Michael Hall - Lonesand, Manitoba

Michael, a 60-year-old trucker who travels between the US and Canada, said he doesn't want to see populist politics in his home country. I voted Liberal this time. Traditionally, I've been more centre/centre-left as a voter and in the past I've either voted for the Green Party or NDP. I've respected Carney for years since he was the governor of the Bank of Canada and how he dealt with the 2008 crisis. Whether we like it or not, we're going to be hurting economically for the next five or 10 years. So we need someone who is an expert. I've seen populist movements in countries like the US, Hungary, and Turkey, and that worries me. Finding groups of people - migrants, immigrants, whatever - to blame for society's problems instead of trying to figure out a solution worries me quite a bit. I know Pierre Poilievre is not a Trump person, but my belief is that he saw how Trump built power in the US, and uses the same sorts of tactics to build his power here. That was a big turnoff.

Pranav Kalsi - Richmond, British Columbia

The 20-year-old geography student said he voted for the New Democratic Party because they are the most different from the leadership in the United States. I believe the NDP cares the most about people. They have a clear plan for housing and for public transit, and as artificial intelligence takes over jobs, they have a plan to increase welfare. I think they care the most about equally distributing the wealth among people, and are not ultra capitalistic. My main concerns are housing, affordability and especially the environment. Recently, the Liberals and Conservatives have abandoned speaking about the environment. I thought the carbon tax was a good measure. I think it was misunderstood, and the NDP still supports [it].

Myron Hinchey - Kichener, Ontario

Myron, 45, said he wants to see a united Canada at the end of this election. I voted early because there's really only one clear choice right now. I voted for the Liberals. If the previous PM had stayed in power, then I would have had a very difficult decision to make. Our country works better together, and I think somebody who knows how to use financial levers is a very good candidate. I grew up in rural Manitoba, which is a very blue [conservative] area, and that's how I was raised. Over the years, I've had life experiences that have shown me that the world isn't black and white, and that it's not simple to solve all its problems.

Rashelle LeClair - Oshawa, Ontario

The 52-year-old said she supports the Liberals because Mark Carney has the most experience to deal with the US. I plan to vote for the Liberals for Mark Carney. I believe that he has the best experience for the job in the face of the threat from the United States. I have voted for all three parties in the past - Liberals, Conservatives and NDP. But this time, the Conservatives have gone way too far for me in their populist message. I was most concerned with our relationship with the United States and climate change. I think the Conservatives have backed away from climate change - they keep talking about 'axing the tax' and don't want to pay carbon tax. But climate change is real; it's a real thing and it's happening. When Mark Carney said it would be a privilege to work for Canada, and that he was leaving the US and coming home to deal with this crisis - that really caught my attention.

BBC Voter Voices is hearing from Canadians around the country about what matters to them in this election.

M&S customers in limbo as cyber attack chaos continues

56 minutes ago Share Save Liv McMahon & Joe Tidy Technology reporter & cyber correspondent Share Save

Reuters

Marks and Spencer (M&S) customers have been telling the BBC of their frustration as disruption caused by the cyber attack which has hit the retailer continues into another trading week. The incident - which it disclosed last Monday - has caused delayed parcels, paused online orders and suspended gift card payments, and has seen the retailer take down several parts of its operations over the last few days. It has yet to disclose the nature of the cyber attack or when it expects operations to return to normal. Some customers told the BBC that M&S' communication over affected orders has been "disappointing". Analysts warn the incident may affect the retailer's reputation.

Its share price fell by 2.5% in morning trading on Monday and is down almost 10% over the past week. Customers have been telling the BBC of the impact the situation is having on them. Linda Sonntag, who lives in Norwich, told the BBC she was left "disappointed" after a flower delivery arranged for a friend never arrived. She told the BBC she was still awaiting a refund and email with information about her order. "In the meantime I've had to order flowers from somewhere else," she said. "I don't blame them, they've had a cyber attack," Ms Sonntag added. "But I don't think their attitude towards their customers is very helpful."

Dawn Cunnington, of Exeter, agreed the company was not to blame, but said she had no communication from M&S about her own flower order not being fulfilled. She had ordered flowers on Wednesday, on behalf of her 91-year-old mother, for her mother's friend, who was celebrating their 90th birthday. "I'd had nothing from them until I phoned up," she told the BBC. Ms Cunnington said she received a refund and a £10 apology voucher after calling M&S to find out what happened to the flowers, but was "a bit cross" they had allowed her to place the order in the first place, given it was aware of cyber incident. Other customers have described having to cancel orders for clothes which they were expecting to collect before going on holiday, or being unable to return goods they had previously bought. But some have expressed sympathy for the staff at the stores, who they say have been on the receiving end of abuse from angry customers, or having to deal with shopping abandoned at the tills when customers were unable to pay when contactless payments were down.

Working round the clock

M&S remains silent on how the cyber attack unfolded, the nature of the attack and how specifically it has been affected by it - leaving cyber security experts to speculate as to what might have happened. It is known it has hired external cyber security experts, who are likely to be a team of incident response specialists who will be working around the clock either at the headquarters of the company or remotely. Their first priority is likely to be find out where the hackers are in the IT system and kick them out. Switching off computer servers used in their online ordering, payment or logistics systems might imply that security teams have isolated that portion as a way the hackers gained entry. They might also have taken these offline to stop the hackers from spreading their malicious software into those previously unaffected areas. It might also be the case that the company is taking all non-business critical services offline to help deal with the hack. "In situations like this, in-store services are typically prioritised for recovery, which can mean online operations take slightly longer to restore," said Sam Kirkman, a director at cyber-security firm NetSPI. He told the BBC that while M&S taking steps like pausing services may make the incident seem "even more serious from the outside," they would allow staff to contain any potential threats and begin recovery safely.

Reputational risk

Loose lips sink Chiefs.

Amid an ugly debrief following their 13-try demolition by Gloucester, Exeter will be hunting a mole.

"We heard a rumour that someone in the Exeter camp called us soft, so we had to make a point," Ludlow told TNT Sports in the wake of a 79-17 thrashing at Kingsholm.

"Every time we got in a huddle it gave that little bit of fuel."

Ludlow's team-mate Christian Wade went on to suggest one of Exeter's Welsh players was the source of the misguided assessment and Gloucester's motivation, narrowing the possible candidates down to a handful.

There is plenty of blame to share around though.

Exeter weren't just outsmarted by Gloucester's tiki-taka offloading game - something that will happen to better teams than them on a sunny day and the hosts' artificial pitch - they were also ground to dust up front.

Jack Clement was driven over after six minutes. Replacement hooker Jack Singleton scored a 27-minute short-range hat-trick.

The red-zone ruthlessness that defined the Chiefs in their domestic and European double five years ago was turned against them as their flimsy defence recorded only 66% tackle success, the joint-lowest of any team this weekend.

Chairman Tony Rowe, who has seen the member-owned club rise from the English second tier to the top of the club game, went into the away dressing room to outline just how far off those heights the current team has fallen.

"Tony is entirely entitled to come in there and fire into everybody," Exeter head coach Rob Hunter said.

"He puts a lot of time and effort into the club, and his expectations and everyone else's expectations should be way, way higher than that."

UK and Irish governments condemn 'unacceptable' Kneecap comments

15 minutes ago Share Save Jake Wood BBC News NI Share Save

Getty Images Móglaí Bap, Dj Provaí, and Mo Chara from the band Kneecap say they have faced a co-ordinated smear campaign

The UK government has condemned alleged comments made by rap group Kneecap as "completely unacceptable" and suggested they should not be able to receive government funding. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch blocked a government grant to the bilingual Belfast group while she was business secretary, but the decision was overturned. Video footage has emerged of the group at a concert in November 2023, where one of the band members appears to say: "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP". A spokesperson for the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he did not think "individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding".

Kneecap have said on social media that they have "faced a co-ordinated smear campaign". The footage is being assessed by counter-terrorism police. The Metropolitan Police said that another video, from November last year, is being assessed. The footage appeared to show a band member shouting "up Hamas, up Hezbollah" at a performance in London. The Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micháel Martin has called on the trio to "urgently clarify" the comments. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are banned in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.

Call for clarity

In Dublin on Monday the Taoiseach said: "Have they, or do they, support Hamas and Hezbollah, because that would be unacceptable," he said. "I mean Hezbollah are responsible, in my view, for the murder of Sean Rooney. "And both Hamas and Hezbollah have views that are absolutely... not just views, but participated in terrorist activities and appalling killing of innocent people, as witnessed on October the 7th. "But it's not clear to me that they do, that Kneecap does support Hezbollah and Hamas. It's been asserted that they have made commentary in support of both. I think they need to urgently clarify that," he said. He said there was a "huge responsibility" when it comes to the safety of public representatives. "I think it's important that free speech is always facilitated and the capacity to speak out and criticise and condemn policies of others. That's all legitimate. But in terms of life and security and safety of people, that's a different issue," he added.

Getty Images DJ Próvai from Kneecap performing onstage at Reading Festival August 23, 2024

Last year, Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK government after the then Conservative Party Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch withdrew arts funding for the band, in a move which was deemed "unlawful". Kneecap was awarded £14,250 - the same amount they were initially granted. Badenoch said the group should be prosecuted. Ms Badenoch, speaking on a local election campaigning visit to Lincolnshire, said the statement was "disgusting "and the band "should be prosecuted" and that "people are in prison for sending tweets that don't go that far". She said they "should not be glorifying terrorism" and are "anti-British".

'Gobsmacked'

Getty Images A photograph of Sir David Amess was displayed at St Peter's Catholic Church as a Mass was said for him

On Monday the daughter of a Conservative MP who was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery said the rap group should apologise. Katie Amess, whose father Sir David Amess was an MP when he was murdered in 2021, said she was "gobsmacked at the stupidity of somebody or a group of people being in the public eye and saying such dangerous, violent rhetoric". Ms Amess said she would be prepared to meet Kneecap and have a conversation with them. "If they are willing to listen to how my life has been obliterated and will never be the same, for them to say those words is obviously very triggering," she said.

Sharon Osbourne

World number one Judd Trump held off Shaun Murphy's fightback to win an epic last-16 tie and move into the quarter-finals of the World Championship.

Trump looked set for a routine victory when he led 12-6 but missed a red into the middle pocket and Murphy capitalised by reeling off four frames in a row.

However 2019 champion Trump held his nerve to take the 23rd frame for a 13-10 win and set up a match against either 2023 winner Luca Brecel or 2016 runner-up Ding Junhui in the quarter-final.

On Sunday, Trump made the two century breaks he needed to reach the 100-ton mark for the season, an achievement that earned him a £100,000 bonus.

The 35-year-old could become the first player to top £2m in prize money in a single season if he wins the world title, the prize for which is £500,000.

More to follow.