Eating a lot of highly processed foods like chips, sugary snacks, and frozen meals is linked to a higher chance of developing heart, kidney, and metabolism problems, and even dying sooner.

People who already have kidney problems or are older are more likely to be harmed by eating ultra-processed foods than healthy younger people.

Eating a lot of ultra-processed foods, like packaged snacks and sugary drinks, might increase your chances of getting high blood pressure by about a third, according to several long-term studies in adults.

Eating lots of ultra-processed foods is linked to having several chronic diseases at once, feeling weaker, living with less quality of life, and having long-lasting body damage — especially in older people.

Eating a lot of ultra-processed foods, like packaged snacks and sugary drinks, is linked to a higher chance of becoming obese — about one-third more likely — based on data from hundreds of thousands of adults followed over time.

Eating a lot of ultra-processed foods, like packaged snacks and sugary drinks, might increase your chances of getting type 2 diabetes by about 37% over time.