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.

众所周知，超加工食品对健康有负面影响；然而，它们对骨骼发育的影响从未被探索过。在这里，我们展示了喂食富含脂肪和糖的超加工食品的幼鼠由于胫骨生长板损伤而出现生长迟缓。骨矿物质密度显着降低，骨骼的结构参数恶化，皮质呈筛状，长骨和椎骨的小梁参数较差。这导致整个骨骼的机械性能较差，骨折风险较高。生长板的 RNA 序列分析表明细胞外基质形成和降解的不平衡以及增殖、分化和矿化过程的损害。我们的发现首次强调，食用超加工食品对骨骼生长的严重影响。这种病理学远远超出了已知代谢效应所解释的范围，强调骨骼是现代饮食研究的新目标。