Ultra-Processed Foods (Part 2)

**Michael Greger** (0:00)
Doesn't it seem like when it comes to nutrition there are more opinions than facts to go around? Every day we hear new theories about diets and supplements and the best foods to eat. Well, my role is to take the mystery out of good nutrition and look at the science. Welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger. Today we continue our exploration of ultra-processed foods, and we start with the two categories of these foods that have been associated with premature death.
Even a small increase in the consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with an increased risk of developing several diseases, and for each additional daily serving, the risk of dying prematurely may increase by 2%.
Are there any babies we'd be throwing out with the bath water if we avoided ultra-processed foods? Are there any that haven't been associated with disease? It's such a big category. All we need are studies that break it down, and here we go. The Framingham Offspring Study, higher consumption of ultra-processed foods, is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but was it because of the burgers or the bagels? The link between ultra-processed foods and disease was largely driven by the ultra-processed meat, the sausage, bologna, salami, hot dogs, and burgers. Breakfast cereals, nearly all of which are ultra-processed, was associated with lower risk, presumably because cereal eaters were eating less bacon and eggs. In another US study, this one 30 times larger, researchers came to the same conclusion. The more ultra-processed, the more cardiovascular disease, but which ultra-processed foods? Soft drinks, both regular and diet, and meat, specifically burgers, fried chicken, fried fish, and meat, pizza, salty snacks like corn chips and potato chips, and candy.
Ultra-processed food consumption and high blood pressure, driven mostly by soda and meat. If we excluded soda and meat, would there still be an association between ultra-processed foods and cardiovascular disease? We can turn to the three big Harvard cohorts. Two hundred thousand people followed for decades, and yes, total intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with cardiovascular risk, but that was driven by soda and meat. Sugar-sweetened beverages and processed red meat, poultry, and fish, like fish sticks. What if we exclude soda and meat? The relationship between ultra-processed foods and cardiovascular disease disappears. So nutritional advice for cardiovascular health should consider the differential consequences of group-specific ultra-processed foods, and specifically that means soft drinks and processed meats should be discouraged.
You know what else is in ultra-processed food? Lodka. So, when you look at food processing and cancer risk, if you exclude alcoholic drinks, all of a sudden the link between processed foods and a number of cancers becomes insignificant, suggesting that it was probably the alcohol driving those associations. Though for colorectal cancer risk, soda and ready-to-eat foods like pizza and ready-to-eat meat, poultry, and fish may also be playing a role. For pancreatic cancer, the association between ultra-processed foods and pancreatic cancer was really more just an association with foods like donuts, cakes, cookies, and meat-and-meat products. Diabetes. You can see the straight-line increase in diabetes risk with increasing ultra-processed food intake, but not all ultra-processed foods, mostly animal-based products, and the pizza category again. What about mortality? Those with the most ultra-processed food consumption had a higher risk of dying from all causes put together, but it mattered what kinds of foods. Ready-to-eat red meat, poultry, and seafood products had particularly strong associations with mortality. The worst ultra-processed food when it came to dying prematurely in general? Meat, poultry, seafood. The worst when it comes to dying from cancer? Meat, poultry, seafood. The worst when it comes to dying from cardiovascular disease? Meat, poultry, seafood. The worst when it comes to dying from lung disease like emphysema? Meat, poultry, seafood. The worst when it comes to dying from neurodegenerative diseases? Ice cream. And the worst when it comes to dying from other causes? Meat, poultry, seafood. The bottom line is that the major factors contributing to the harmful influence of ultra-processed foods on mortality are soda and processed meat, including poultry and fish. That's what a systematic review and meta-analysis of all such studies showed. Higher mortality associated with drinking more sugar-sweetened beverages like soda, diet soda, and eating more processed meat, or eating any processed meat at all. So the ultra-processed foods problem may really just be a soda and meat problem.
There was one ray of sunshine in the study, though. The researchers found one ultra-processed dessert that was associated with lower mortality, dark chocolate.
In the next story, we look at a natural solution to the ultra-processed food problem, something that I talk about in my book that came out, I think, just earlier this year on ultra-processed foods. Check it out. In two Harvard cohorts, researchers followed about 100,000 men and women for decades and found that high consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with dying earlier, which provides support for limiting consumption of certain types of ultra-processed foods for long-term health. In particular, processed meat poultry seafood, which generally showed the strongest and most consistent associations with mortality. So here, the negative life-shortening effects of ultra-processed foods was really mostly talking about the negative life-shortening effects of processed meats like burgers, chicken nuggets, and fish sticks. But the association between more ultra-processed foods and higher mortality appears to be present even among vegetarians. Yes, plant-based diets, which reduce or avoid eggs, dairy, fish, and other meats, have been linked to a reduced risk of various chronic diseases, including our leading killer cardiovascular disease. But that doesn't mean you can live off vegan doughnuts. Non-ultra-processed plant foods like fruits and vegetables are associated with lower risk of disease, but ultra-processed foods like Oreos and Mountain Dew are associated with higher risks. So, dietary guidelines shouldn't just help people to cut down on meat and other animal-sourced foods, but also to cut down on junk. No big surprise. But this is how the paper was reported on. The hidden health hazards of vegan sausages. Vegan fake meats are linked to increase in heart deaths. What?