Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Childhood Allergic Diseases: Increased Risk of Asthma Onset in the SENDO Project.

Abstract

While the role of genetic predisposition in asthma and other allergic conditions is well established, the contribution of nutritional patterns is heterogeneous and has been demonstrated in cross-sectional studies but not in prospective cohorts. We analyzed data from 1546 participants enrolled in the SENDO cohort between January 2015 and June 2024. Children aged 4-5 years were prospectively recruited. UPF consumption was assessed at baseline and updated at the 3-year follow-up. Information on asthma and allergic diseases was collected at baseline and updated annually during the follow-up. A final sample of 691 participants was classified into tertiles (T1, T2, T3) according to UPF consumption. Prevalent cases were excluded from the analysis to ensure that incident cases were included during the follow-up. In the main analyses, we calculated the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CI with survival analyses. After a mean follow-up of 3.4 years, the adjusted risk for asthma in each tertile (T1, T2, T3) of UPF consumption was 2.6%, 9.9%, and 7.6% respectively (p for trend: 0.03). In the fully adjusted model of the survival analysis, children with greater UPF consumption (T2 + T3) showed a significantly higher risk of asthma (HR 3.76; 95% CI 1.15-11.51, p = 0.02) but not of AA, nor other allergic outcomes compared with their peers in the lowest tertile (T1) of UPF consumption. Higher UPF consumption may be associated with an increased risk of developing asthma in school-age children.