Ultra-processed food targets bone quality via endochondral ossification

Abstract

Ultra-processed foods have known negative implications for health; however, their effect on skeletal development has never been explored. Here, we show that young rats fed ultra-processed food rich in fat and sugar suffer from growth retardation due to lesions in their tibial growth plates. The bone mineral density decreases significantly, and the structural parameters of the bone deteriorate, presenting a sieve-like appearance in the cortices and poor trabecular parameters in long bones and vertebrae. This results in inferior mechanical performance of the entire bone with a high fracture risk. RNA sequence analysis of the growth plates demonstrated an imbalance in extracellular matrix formation and degradation and impairment of proliferation, differentiation and mineralization processes. Our findings highlight, for the first time, the severe impact of consuming ultra-processed foods on the growing skeleton. This pathology extends far beyond that explained by the known metabolic effects, highlighting bone as a new target for studies of modern diets.

The Use of Mushrooms and Spirulina Algae as Supplements to Prevent Growth Inhibition in a Pre-Clinical Model for an Unbalanced Diet

“…In order to evaluate the influence of unbalanced diet (UBD) and different nutritional supplements (Spirulina algae, Pleurotus eryngii mushroom and Agaricus bisporus mushroom) added to this diet, on skeletal development, a 6-week long experiment was conducted on SD rats after weaning (3 weeks old). This time line is mimicking the human growth period until sexual maturation [8].…”

“…For the trabecular region, a total of 150 slices, equivalent to 2.073 mm of the bone, were selected, and adaptive grayscale threshold levels between 58 and 255 were used. Two phantoms with known density (0.25 and 0.75 g/cm 3 ) were scanned under the same conditions of the femora samples allowing to measure the cortical diaphysis BMD (bone mineral density); quantification were carried out using CTAn software [8,30].…”

“…A pronged loading device was applied to the anterior surface of the bones, precisely in the middle between the two supports. First, an initial preload of 0.1 N was applied to hold the bone in place; following that, the prong was advanced at a constant rate of 600 µm/min, loaded up to the fracture point, identified by a sudden >20% decrease in load [8]. Force-displacement data were collected by the Instron software BlueHill (version 2.0, Instron Corporation, Norwood, Massachusetts, USA) at 10 Hz.…”

“…The deleterious effects of unbalanced diet (UBD) consumption are well established, and include obesity, dyslipidemia, heart disease, high blood pressure, and impact on daily performance, behavior and mood [5,6]. Yet, there are not enough studies discussing the effect of such a diet on skeletal development and quality [7,8]. Many factors including genes, ethnicity, gender, hormones, physical activity level and diet have a significant impact on bone development, quality, and peak bone mass (PBM) achievement with sexual maturation [9].…”

Ultra-Processed Food Impairs Bone Quality, Increases Marrow Adiposity and Alters Gut Microbiome in Mice

“…It was established that children living next to community stores, as opposed to UPF outlets, have significantly higher bone mineral density (BMD) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) at 4 years of age [ 8 ]. Our group has recently published evidence suggesting the direct unfavorable effect of the UPF on the growing skeleton in a pre-clinical model of rats [ 9 ].…”