The Study
Ultra-processed foods, lifestyle management, and cardiovascular diseases: A clinical consensus statement of the European Society of Cardiology Council for Cardiology Practice and the European Association of Preventive Cardiology of the European Society of Cardiology.
This study didn't test anything new—it looked at lots of other studies that watched what people ate and what happened to them over time. It found that people who eat more packaged snacks and sugary drinks tend to have more heart problems, but it can't prove that the snacks caused the problems—maybe those people just live differently in other ways.
Analysis score
Maximum 5 for a narrative review.
Where the score came from
Foods like chips, sugary drinks, and processed meats are heavily processed and packed with additives, and eating too much of them is linked to heart problems.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 52 / 100
Quality score
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of cohort studies. They sit above a single cohort study but below a single randomized trial, because the underlying evidence is still observational.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — this means even small increases in junk food intake significantly raise your chances of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes, even if you eat other healthy foods.
- 2Every 10% more junk food eaten raises heart disease risk by 12%, weight gain by 9–18%, and diabetes risk by 13–80%; eating more than 50g daily boosts obesity risk by over 30% and belly fat by up to 61%.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
European heart journal
Year
2026
Authors
L. Guasti, M. Bonaccio, A. Abreu, Riccardo Asteggiano, M. Bes-Rastrollo, R. Christodorescu, Giovanni de Gaetano, M. Ferrini, Pedro Marques-Vidal, A. Pathak, Dimitri Richter, Sukshma Sharma, Catarina Sousa Guerreiro, B. Srour, S. Stranges, Mathilde Touvier, B. Vohnout, M. Piepoli, L. Iacoviello
Related Content
Claims (6)
Nutritional guidelines that focus only on calories, fat, protein, and sugar are linked to higher consumption of ultra-processed foods and do not lead to better public health.
People who consume the most ultra-processed foods have a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes and prediabetes compared to those who consume the least.
People who eat more ultra-processed foods have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease. For every 10% increase in ultra-processed food intake, the risk of cardiovascular disease rises by 12% and the risk of coronary heart disease rises by 13%.
People who eat more ultra-processed foods have a higher likelihood of gaining weight, becoming overweight, or developing abdominal fat, with the risk increasing as their intake of these foods rises.
People who eat more ultra-processed foods have a higher rate of death from cardiovascular disease compared to those who eat less, based on observations across large population studies.
People who eat more ultra-processed foods have a higher incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, as measured by increased fatty liver index scores and hazard ratios between 1.26 and 1.48.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.