A junk-food lifestyle might contribute to embarrassing little leaks in middle-aged women, a new study suggests.

Women who often munch fast food or packaged eats appear more likely to develop urinary incontinence, researchers recently reported in the journal Women’s Health.

Frequently eating either processed or fast food is associated with a 50% increased risk of a leaky bladder, results show.

“Higher consumption of highly processed ready-made foods and fast food increased the risk for experiencing the symptoms of stress and urgency urinary incontinence,” lead investigator Mari Kuutti, a doctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, said in a news release.

On the other hand, “higher consumption of fruits and overall higher quality diet decreased the risk for stress urinary incontinence,” Kuutti added.

As many as 45% of women worldwide are affected by urinary incontinence, researchers said in background notes.

Women become more likely to develop incontinence as aging affects the ability of the pelvic floor muscles to control urination, researchers said.

But they suspected that a poor diet might also influence the pelvic floor, as key nutrients like protein, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids are important for proper muscle function.

For their study, researchers tracked the health of nearly 1,100 Finnish women 47 to 55 years old. More than half already had symptoms of pelvic floor problems like urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence and constipation.

The women filled out a questionnaire that included questions related to their eating choices and behaviors, as well as any problems with incontinence.

Results showed that fast food and processed food significantly increase the risk of stress incontinence, in which urine leaks out when a person coughs, laughs or does something to increase pressure on their bladder.

Highly processed foods also were associated with a 40% increased risk of urgency incontinence, in which a person feels a sudden, strong urge to urinate even if their bladder isn’t full, researchers found.

However, eating fruit every day reduced the risk of stress incontinence by 20%, results show.

These associations held even after researchers accounted for other risk factors like the women’s body mass index (BMI), an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.

Processed and fast foods might increase the risk of oxidative stress and inflammation, both of which are associated with urinary incontinence, researchers said. Fruits contain high levels of antioxidants that counteract those risks.

“As a preventive action, eating behavior of women with the risk of these symptoms should be assessed, and guidance toward healthy eating patterns should be provided,” the research team concluded.