Heart and stroke risk of too much processed food

EATING large amounts of highly processed food could raise the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke, experts have warned.

Those who consume a lot of ‘ultra-processed’ food – including some ready meals, sugary cereals and fizzy drinks – have been found more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease.

For every 10 per cent increase in the proportion of ultra-processed food eaten, a person’s risk of cardiovascular problems rose by 12 per cent, a French study found.

Separate Spanish research showed people eating more than four daily servings of ultraprocessed food had a 62 per cent higher chance of dying – not specifically from cardiovascular diseases. This was the increased risk over the next ten years on average, compared to eating less than two servings a day.

Ultra-processed food stuffs make up half of all food bought in the UK and are usually sold ‘ready to eat’. Industrial ready meals tend to be high in salt and saturated fat, but there is also growing evidence some of the chemicals they contain could be harmful for the body and harden arteries.

The products could not be made in a normal kitchen, as they are packed with substances like preservatives and sweeteners.

Experts believe ultra-processed food may make people feel less full and more hungry, raising their risk of obesity, which is linked to heart problems and premature death.

The findings, published in the BMJ, have prompted calls for governments to consider more taxes on processed foods to help people lower their consumption.

Previously there had been research into links between ultra

‘People feel less full and more hungry’

processed foods and high blood pressure, depression and cancer.

But there had been no investigation into cardiovascular disease, which causes a third of deaths worldwide – and around half of these in Europe are linked to an unhealthy diet.

The study, led by the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research and the University of Paris, looked at 105,519 adults who filled out an average of five questionnaires on their diets.

When these people were tracked for up to a decade, every 10 per cent rise in the proportion of ultraprocessed food they ate was linked to a 12 per cent increased risk of cardiovascular disease, a 13 per cent increased risk of coronary heart disease and an 11 per cent higher risk of problems with blood supply to the brain.

The Spanish study, led by the University of Navarra, looked at almost 20,000 people whose ultraprocessed foods of choice mainly included processed meats, sugary drinks and dairy products.

For every additional serving of these foods they admitted eating in questionnaires, the risk of dying was found to rise by 18 per cent, with cancer found to be the main cause of death.

The research concluded that ‘targeting products, taxation, and marketing restrictions on ultraprocessed products, and promotion of fresh or minimally processed foods, should be considered part of important health policy to improve global public health’.

Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘It’s important to remember that observational studies like these can only show an association. They cannot tell us what is behind this.

‘The classification of ultra-processed foods used by the researchers is very broad and so there could be a number of reasons why these foods are being linked to increased risk to our health, for example nutritional content, additives in food or factors in a person’s life.’