A new study has warned that chowing down on ultra-processed foods – fast food, packaged snacks, heatand-eat meals – increases young adults’ risk of health problems that contribute to diabetes.

An increase in ultra-processed food intake is associated with a higher risk of prediabetes, in which early-stage high blood sugar can lead to type 2 diabetes, researchers reported in the journal ‘Nutrition and Metabolism’.

More ultra-processed eats in one’s diet were also linked to an increase in insulin resistance, another contributor to diabetes, researchers found.

“Even modest increases in ultra-processed food intake can disrupt glucose regulation in young adults at risk for obesity,” said senior researcher Dr. Vaia Lida Chatzi, a professor of population and public health sciences and paediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, in Los Angeles, USA.

“These results point to diet as a modifiable driver of early metabolic disease, and an urgent target for prevention strategies among young people,” Chatzi added in a news release.