Ultra-Processed Diets Tracked With Higher Heart Death Risk

CATEGORY: EATING FOR HEART HEALTH

Eating the most ultra-processed food tracked with about a 50% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than eating the least, in a research review that pooled evidence covering almost 10 million people. Death from any cause ran 21% higher at the top of the intake range. The underlying studies observed people rather than assigning them diets, so this is an association, not proof that these foods cause early death.¹ Cardiovascular disease means disease of the heart and blood vessels.

More Than Half the Calories in Some Countries

Ultra-processed foods are industrial products built largely from substances extracted or refined out of whole foods, with additives such as flavorings, colorings and emulsifiers, which bind fat and water together. Packaged snacks. Sugary drinks. Instant noodles, reconstituted meat products, a great many ready-to-eat meals. In some higher-income countries these products now supply more than half the calories people eat, which is what gives a finding like this its reach.

45 Pooled Analyses Stacked on Top of One Another

This was an umbrella review, a study that gathers previous meta-analyses, each of which had already pooled many individual studies, and weighs the body of evidence as a whole. The researchers combined 45 pooled analyses drawn from 14 review articles, covering nearly 9.9 million people between them. In the underlying studies, participants reported what they ate on diet questionnaires, their intake was classified by how industrially processed it was, and they were followed for years or decades while deaths and new diagnoses were recorded. The team also graded how dependable the evidence was for each health outcome. The heart-related findings earned the strongest ratings.

32 Outcomes Worse, 13 Analyses Showing Nothing

Higher intake was associated with greater risk for 32 of the health outcomes examined. Type 2 diabetes was among them, graded convincing, with a modest increase in risk, alongside depression, anxiety, sleep problems and obesity. For asthma, digestive diseases and some cancers the evidence stayed limited. Thirteen of the pooled analyses showed no evidence of a link at all.¹ None of the included studies had been funded by companies that make ultra-processed foods.¹

What Questionnaires Cannot Separate Out

Every pooled study was observational. People who eat heavily processed diets may differ in other ways, income and smoking and activity among them, that questionnaires and statistical adjustment cannot fully disentangle. Ultra-processed food is also a wide category, and the evidence held up better for some outcomes than others. Other pooled research runs the same direction with smaller numbers. A 2024 analysis of 22 long-running studies linked the highest ultra-processed intakes to about 17% higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, and found the category is not uniform: sugary drinks and processed meats carried the risk, while breads, cereals and yogurt did not.² Another review tied each extra daily serving to roughly 2% higher risk of cardiovascular events.³

Key Takeaways

• The highest ultra-processed food intake was linked to roughly 50% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and 21% higher risk of death from any cause, across pooled studies of nearly 9.9 million people.
• Type 2 diabetes, depression, anxiety and sleep problems were among 32 adverse outcomes that tracked with higher intake.
• All of the evidence is observational, and its strength varied by outcome, with the heart-death and diabetes findings graded most convincing.

References

1. Lane MM, Gamage E, Du S, et al. Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. BMJ. 2024;384:e077310. link
2. Mendoza K, Smith-Warner SA, Rossato SL, et al. Ultra-processed foods and cardiovascular disease: analysis of three large US prospective cohorts and a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. The Lancet Regional Health–Americas. 2024;37:100859. link.
3. Qu Y, Hu W, Huang J, et al. Ultra-processed food consumption and risk of cardiovascular events: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis. eClinicalMedicine. 2024;69:102484. link.