WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new analysis suggests that eating more ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is linked to a higher risk of several major health problems, including digestive diseases, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and death.
Researchers reviewed studies published upto the end of April 2026, which included 51 long-term studies involving 8.8 million people from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania. Participants were aged between 23 and 77 on average, and they were followed for periods ranging from two to 32 years.
The researchers used information from food questionnaires, 24-hour dietary records and other dietary assessments to measure how much ultra-processed food people consumed. They then looked at the relationship between UPF intake and several health outcomes, including high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, coronary artery disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome and diabetes, digestive diseases, overweight and obesity, depression and anxiety, and death from any cause.
The combined analysis, published in the open-access journal Family Medicine and Community Health, found that people who ate more ultra-processed foods had a higher risk of several chronic health problems. The risk also increased as the amount of UPF consumed went up.
Higher UPF consumption was linked to a 24% higher risk of cardiovascular events, a 12% higher risk of cancer, a 23% higher risk of overweight or obesity, a 24% higher risk of metabolic syndrome or diabetes, a 27% higher risk of depression or anxiety, a 31% higher risk of digestive diseases, an 11% higher risk of high blood pressure and an 18% higher risk of death from any cause.
The researchers also found that every additional 100 grams of ultra-processed food consumed per day was linked to a 14% higher risk of cardiovascular events, a 4% higher risk of cancer, a 3% higher risk of death from any cause and a 2% higher risk of metabolic syndrome or diabetes.
In addition, every 10% increase in the share of calories or weight coming from ultra-processed foods was linked to a 16% higher risk of metabolic syndrome or diabetes.
'Given that UPF-related chronic diseases often cluster as multimorbidity, reducing consumption of UPFs and replacing them with minimally processed alternatives may be relevant for chronic disease prevention and primary care management,' the authors concluded.
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