A new study published in The American Journal of Medicine has shown that high intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with a 47% higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
The study used data from nearly 5,000 adults in the U.S. who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2021 to 2023. Each participant had at least one day of detailed dietary records, including daily caloric intake and consumption of ultra-processed foods. Additionally, each participant provided health information on whether they had ever had a heart attack or a stroke. Using their dietary records, participants were grouped into four categories based on the percentage of their total daily calories that came from ultra-processed foods. This information was used to determine whether total intake of ultra-processed foods was linked to a person’s chances of having a heart attack or stroke.
The results showed that the people in the group with the highest intake of ultra-processed foods were 47% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke compared to the people in the group with the lowest intake of ultra-processed foods, even after adjusting for risk factors such as age, gender, and smoking status. While large, randomized trials are needed to confirm this relationship, these results strongly suggest that limiting ultra-processed food intake may benefit the heart.
The authors of the study noted that these results have important implications for public policy and our food environment. Ultra-processed foods are cheap and easily available, while unprocessed foods can be more difficult to find and more time-consuming to prepare. The authors further noted that ultra-processed foods today may be comparable to tobacco products in the last 100 years; awareness and acceptance of the dangers of smoking took decades, and awareness of the health risks of ultra-processed foods may follow a similar pattern.