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...

Eating a lot of ultra-processed foods, like packaged snacks and sugary drinks, might increase your chances of having unhealthy blood fats — specifically high triglycerides and low 'good' cholesterol — according to several long-term studies in adults.

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 fewer carbs might help boost good cholesterol and lower blood fats in people with higher body weight, but it doesn’t seem to change overall or bad cholesterol much.

If you swap just a little bit of butter or fatty meat in your diet with healthier fats like those in nuts or fish, you might lower your bad cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease by a small amount.

People who eat a lot of highly processed foods like chips, sugary snacks, and frozen meals tend to eat more calories and gain more weight than those who eat whole foods, even when they’re not trying to.