Which ultra-processed foods are the worst for your health?

We already know that ultra-processed foods are terrible for our health. A study titled 'High ultra-processed food consumption is associated with elevated psychological distress as an indicator of depression in adults from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study,' released in the Journal of Affective Disorders on August 15, 2023, caught headlines for linking the consumption of these kinds of foods with a decline in mental health.

However, the results of a 30-year study lead by Dr. Mingyang Song, an associate professor of clinical epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health, also found that eating ultra-processed foods is associated with an early risk of death.

The study titled 'Association of ultra-processed food consumption with all cause and cause specific mortality: population based cohort study' was published in BMJ journal on May 8, 2024 analyzed information obtained from over 100,000 health care workers in the United States from 1986 until 2018.

As highlighted by CNN, the participants in the study did not have any history of diabetes, cancer or cardiovascular disease, and the study found that some ultra-processed foods are far more detrimental to our health than others.

Every two years over the course of the study the participants had to answer a questionnaire on their health and lifestyle, and every four years they had to answer detailed questions about their food habits over the 30 years the study lasted.

Dr. Mingyang Song told CNN, that processed meats along with foods and drinks high in sugar were far worse for our health than ultra-processed grains.

The authors of the study found that the participants who ate the most ultra-processed meats, sugary drinks and treats had 4% higher risk of death by any cause and a 9% increase in the risk of neurodegenerative death.

Dr. Song told CNN that the correlation between ultra-processed foods and an increase in death was “moderate,” adding, “The positive association is mainly driven by a few subgroups including processed meat and sugar sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages.”

Dr. Song says that we don't need to rush out and eliminate all the ultra-processed foods in our diets, but rather we should avoid the worst offenders, as mentioned earlier, the meats and sugary foods.

Dr. Song said that “Cereals, whole grain breads, for example, they are also considered ultra-processed food, but they contain various beneficial nutrients like fiber, vitamins and minerals,” therefore they aren't the ones we need to worry about.

But if we want to live longer and have a higher quality of life, Dr. Song told CNN, "I do think people should try to avoid or limit the consumption of certain ultra-processed foods, such as processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages and also potentially artificially sweetened beverages."

The doctor also says that overall people should be mindful of eating a balanced diet. Eating some ultra-processed foods occasionally will not automatically mean terrible health results if overall you eat a healthy foods and only indulge once in a while.

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