High Ultra-Processed Food Consumption Raises Heart Attack Risk: Study

‘We saw a clear dose-response relationship,’ one of the authors says.

A customer shops at a grocery store in Chicago on Dec. 11, 2024. Scott Olson/Getty Images

People who ate high levels of ultra-processed food were more likely to suffer a heart attack or other heart issues, according to new research.

When compared with people who had about one serving a day of ultra-processed foods, those who consumed nine servings per day had a 66.8 percent higher risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, researchers said in the new study, published on March 17 by JACC: Advances.

Those who ate relatively few ultra-processed foods still faced a higher risk, as each additional daily serving was associated with a 5.1 percent increased risk of heart issues.

“We saw a clear dose-response relationship, meaning that as intake increased, so did risk,” Michael Shapiro, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and an author of the study, told The Epoch Times via email.

He said that the relationship remained consistent even after researchers accounted for factors such as age and lifestyle.

Ultra-processed foods are foods that have been altered through chemical processes. They typically include multiple additives that enhance color, flavor, or shelf life. Frozen pizza and soda are two examples.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other authorities have said in recent months that Americans, who derive a majority of their calories from ultra-processed foods, should avoid them. Dietary guidelines released this year advise limiting ultra-processed foods, and forthcoming color-coded labels will help Americans steer clear of them, according to Kennedy.

A number of previous studies, including a 2023 paper by British researchers, have found that eating ultra-processed foods is linked to a high risk of heart problems.

Shapiro and coauthors analyzed data from 6,814 American adults aged 45 to 84 who live in six communities, including Baltimore County, Maryland, and Forsyth County, North Carolina, and did not have heart disease.

Baseline data were gathered from 2000 to 2003, and follow-up exams were conducted as recently as 2012.

The analysis showed that ultra-processed food consumption was a “significant predictor” of cardiovascular events, the researchers wrote.

Limitations included that the study was observational. Funding came from government agencies, and the authors reported no conflicts of interest.

“There are several important next steps,” Shapiro said. “One is to better understand the mechanisms linking ultraprocessed foods to cardiovascular disease, including potential roles of inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and the gut microbiome. Another is to refine how we classify and study ultra-processed foods, since not all categories appear to carry the same level of risk.”

Researchers are also considering exploring whether dietary changes are associated with changes in the risk of health problems.