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. 2025 Feb 17;64(2):94.
doi: 10.1007/s00394-025-03607-y.

Association between ultra-processed food consumption and inflammation: insights from the STANISLAS cohort

Lea Lin Chun Hu Xia  1 , Nicolas Girerd  2 , Zohra Lamiral  1 , Kevin Duarte  1 , Ludovic Merckle  1 , Celine Leroy  1 , Julie-Anne Nazare  3 , Laurie Van Den Berghe  3 , Louise Seconda  3 , Axelle Hoge  4 , Michèle Guillaume  4 , Martine Laville  3 , Patrick Rossignol  1   5   6 , Jean-Marc Boivin  1   7 , Sandra Wagner  1
Affiliations
Free article

Association between ultra-processed food consumption and inflammation: insights from the STANISLAS cohort

Lea Lin Chun Hu Xia et al. Eur J Nutr. .
Free article

Abstract

Purpose: High consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) is associated with an increased risk of developing chronic diseases. Inflammation may be one of the underlying mechanisms behind this association. However, only a limited number of studies have investigated the association between UPF consumption and a few selected inflammation biomarkers, yielding inconsistent results. This study aimed to assess the cross-sectional association between UPF consumption (as a whole and 10 sub-categories), and 78 circulating proteins related to inflammation.

Methods: The present study included 1594 adult participants from the STANISLAS cohort. UPF consumption was estimated using the NOVA classification, and linear regression models were used to assess their association with circulating proteins.

Results: UPFs accounted for 28% of the total energy intake and 5.7 servings on average per day. In the unadjusted model, 15 circulating proteins had a significant association with UPF consumption. After adjustment, only (FGF-19) was significantly associated with UPF consumption (β = - 0.02[- 0.03; - 0.003]).

Conclusion: UPF consumption was negatively associated with Fibroblast Growth Factor 19 (FGF-19) serum levels. When considering UPF sub-categories, no circulating proteins were associated with dairy products and dairy desserts. Of note, circulating proteins were differentially associated depending on the sub-category of UPF. Further studies are needed to better understand the link between UPF and inflammation.

Keywords: Circulating protein; Fibroblast growth factor 19; Inflammation; NOVA; Olink; Ultra-processed food.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: NG has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Roche Diagnostics, NP Medical, and Echosens. The other co-authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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