Overview
- On Tuesday, June 23, researchers from Tufts published an American Journal of Public Health paper analyzing 1999–2018 NHANES data linked to the National Death Index and reported that higher shares of calories from ultra-processed foods were linked to worse weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and a modestly higher risk of death.
- The team found a dose-related pattern where each 10 percent increase in calories from ultra-processed foods corresponded to poorer cardiometabolic markers and higher prevalence of conditions such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
- Those associations remained after the authors adjusted for reported nutrient quality and for amounts of saturated fat, added sugar, and sodium, which led them to propose non-nutrient mechanisms such as altered food structure, loss of beneficial compounds, additives, or chemicals from packaging.
- The study is observational and relies on one- or two-day 24-hour dietary recalls plus a classification system for processing, so researchers caution it cannot prove causation and may be affected by measurement error or residual confounding.
- Because ultra-processed products account for more than half of adult calories and about 60 percent of children's intake in the U.S., the authors and other experts say the findings strengthen calls for targeted feeding trials, clearer definitions, and policy options such as labeling, school limits, or additive restrictions.