A study tracking more than 200,000 American adults over four decades has found that the overall quality of a person’s diet matters more for health outcomes than whether food is heavily processed.
Researchers drew on data from three studies conducted from the 1980s through the 2020s, reported by EurekAlert. Scientists sorted participants into four groups based on plant-food eating patterns: healthy and highly processed, healthy and minimally processed, unhealthy and highly processed, and unhealthy and minimally processed diets.
About half of participants eventually died or developed cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes. Risk levels varied significantly by overall diet quality, but within each quality category risks were nearly identical regardless of how processed the food was.
Xiaowen Wang, a postdoctoral research fellow in nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said that processing itself is not harmful. She said people should focus on what they eat overall rather than whether a given product is processed, and that a healthy plant-based diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and healthy plant oils is beneficial even when it includes some processed items.
Wang noted that while many ultra-processed foods tend to be low in nutritional value and should generally be limited, some highly processed products such as fortified breakfast cereals, canned beans, and plant-based dairy alternatives can still supply important nutrients, fiber, and antioxidants.
Experts said daily eating habits carry more weight than occasional indulgences, and that consuming too many processed meat products such as sausages and pâtés is harmful.
