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 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 lots of highly processed foods like chips, sodas, and frozen meals can make you gain weight and worsen your 'bad' cholesterol compared to 'good' cholesterol—even if you eat the same number of calories as someone eating whole foods.

Consumption of hyper-palatable processed foods, even at matched meal frequency, leads to adverse metabolic outcomes (e.g., elevated insulin, insulin resistance, increased adiposity) compared to whole, unprocessed foods.

Eating more of these healthy foods—like fruits, veggies, nuts, fish, and whole grains—is linked to being less likely to get heart disease, diabetes, or gain weight over time.