Higher consumption of highly processed foods has been associated with an increased risk of contracting COVID-19, according to a new study recently published in the European Journal of Nutrition. Diet is known to play an important role in the immune system, but there is still limited evidence on the relationship between diet and COVID-19.

The new study looked at data from 41,012 participants in the UK Biobank. Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Athens At. Raptis, Anastasia Tanopoulou, Panagiotis Halvatsiotis, Stavroula Pashu, Erifuli Hatsiagelaki and Theodora Psaltopoulou summed up the results.

The study assessed the association between average consumption of ultra-processed foods (% of daily intake in grams) and exposure to COVID-19.

Consumption of highly processed foods is associated with the possibility of infection.

Eating habits were collected using a 24-hour online food questionnaire and foods were classified according to their degree of processing. These are frozen meals, soft drinks, all types of fast food, as well as packaged foods such as cookies, cakes, salty snacks.

Compared with participants in the lowest quartile of eating ultra-processed foods, participants in the second, third, and highest quartiles had a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 (3%, 24%, and 22% higher, respectively, p).

In these associations, no effect of age, education level, and comorbidities was found. On the other hand, body mass index had some mediation (13.2%) in these associations, suggesting that highly processed foods increase body weight, which in turn increases the risk of contracting COVID-19.