Everyone knows a whole foods-based diet is best, but that’s not necessarily the way most Americans eat. Ultra-processed foods are made mostly from substances extracted from food—such as fats, starches, added sugars, and hydrogenated fats—and often contain ingredients rarely used in home cooking. Think: French fries, crackers, sugary sodas, hotdogs, cereal, commercial salad dressings, frozen meals, and chips. And some reports estimate that these highly processed foods make up as much as 60% of the American diet. You may love the convenience of reaching for a granola bar or a prepackaged meal but that may come at a cost to your health.
Recent research has linked ultra-processed foods to an astonishing amount of ailments, including heart disease, digestive disorders, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, depression, obesity, sleep related conditions, cancer, and beyond. They could also reduce your lifespan. One study followed more than half a million adults ages 50 to 71 for close to 23 years. It found that those who ate more ultra-processed foods were 10% more likely to die during the following two decades than those with lower intake.
Related: How you could add 10 healthy years to your life
What’s inside ultra-processed foods?
Ultra-processed foods aren’t designed to be good for us. They're made to be craveable, convenient, shelf stable, and profitable. Many of the ingredients that achieve these effects are chemically modified in the form of added colors, flavor enhancers, and preservatives. Here’s a look at some of the harmful ingredients in many of these foods:
- Emulsifiers: These food additive molecules act as stabilizers, preventing liquids that don’t normally mix together from separating, such as oil and water. You’ll see these on ingredients lists as things like lecithin, guar gum, locust bean gum, and carrageenan. 2022 research found that a common emulsifier known as carboxymethylcellulose experienced caused disruption in gut microbial activity, as well stomach discomfort after eating.
- Artificial sweeteners: Many of these sugar substitutes, such as aspartame and erythritol, come with side effects like altering the gut microbiome composition, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke, and negatively impact metabolic pathways involved in glucose regulation.
- Flavor enhancers: Highly palatable foods—especially those high in sugar, fat, salt, and flavor-enhancing additives—are engineered to trigger the brain’s reward system, with the goal of making you crave more. This can make it harder to say no and easier to overeat foods that contain them.
- Refined carbs + engineered fats: Many UPF are packed with forms of refined carbohydrates and engineered fats that drive rapid blood sugar spikes and crashes.
- Stabilizers, gums, colorants: There is growing evidence of low-grade inflammatory effects of these types of additives, in addition to increased risks of artificial dyes being linked to everything from an increased risk of behavioral issues to cancer.
- Fructose-rich syrups: These high glycemic sweeteners are associated with visceral fat accumulation and can raise one’s risk of excess fat buildup in the liver.
- Microplastics, phthalates and bisphenols, PFAs: Food packaging can leach everything from microplastics to forever chemicals into ultra-processed foods.
What ultra-processed foods are missing
Ultra-processed foods may have a lot of ingredients on the label, but most are lacking in serious nutrition. Among the things they don’t often contain include:
- Minimal fiber: Ultra-processed foods are typically stripped of naturally occurring fiber. This can lead to weaker fullness signals and greater post-meal blood sugar spikes, which increases the likelihood of overeating and energy crashes.
- Missing micronutrients: Many vitamins and minerals are removed during food’s processing. This leaves UPFs with poorer overall nutrient density than whole and minimally processed foods.
- Lack of polyphenols + antioxidants: Whole foods naturally contain polyphenols and antioxidants, which are key to helping regulate inflammation and oxidative stress. These compounds are largely absent in ultra-processed foods.
- Lower protein density and quality: When compared to whole foods, UPFs tend to contain less protein and lower quality protein in general, leading to increased calorie intake and impaired appetite regulating.
What ultra-processed foods could do to your body
Studies continue to emerge that show the negative effects of ultra-processed foods on our various bodily systems. Some of their harmful effects include:
Weight gain and visceral fat accumulation: A growing body of research shows that ultra-processed foods promote excess calorie intake. They can also drive fat gain, particularly visceral fat, which is stored deep in the abdomen and is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic disorders. Visceral fat cannot be calculated by stepping on a scale or calculating your BMI, but can be seen on imaging like Prenuvo’s Body Composition Analysis.
Related: Why you should be tracking your body composition
The hyperpalatable textures and low fiber in ultra-processed foods lead to unregulated hunger, putting people who regularly eat these foods at increased risk of weight gain and obesity. A 2019 landmark NIH clinical trial found that people ate over 500 extra calories per day on UPF-heavy diets, compared to those eating minimally processed foods—despite both diets being matched for calories, macronutrients, sugar, fiber, and sodium. After just two weeks, participants on the UPC diet gained weight, while those on a whole foods based diet lost weight.
Blood sugar dysregulation and insulin resistance: Unlike whole foods, which are rich in fiber and protein, ultra-processed foods are rapidly digested and absorbed. This can lead to sharp spikes in blood glucose, followed by crashes. This is largely due to the high refined carbohydrate content of UPFs. Their low fiber content and altered food structure speeds glucose absorption and impair normal metabolic responses.
Research has found strong associations between ultra-processed food intake and a greater risk of prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and elevated A1c levels (average blood glucose levels). Some studies have shown a 12-17% higher risk of type 2 diabetes for every 10% increase in UPF intake.
Chronic inflammation: ultra-processed foods are loaded with additives and refined oils, which contribute to low-grade systemic inflammation. Some recent studies have found that people who eat diets rich in UPFs have elevated levels of inflammatory markers like c-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a marker of inflammation that can be linked to complications like an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
In addition to heart disease, chronic, low-grade inflammation is considered a major contributor to many diseases including diabetes, metabolic dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic kidney disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers believe that a diet rich in ultraprocessed foods can quietly keep the body in an inflamed state by disrupting the balance of bacteria in the gut, overstimulating the immune system, and increasing oxidative stress—which can damage cells over time.
Gut microbiome disruption: Some ingredients in ultra-processed foods have been shown to negatively impact the gut microbiome and gut barrier. This can lead to fewer beneficial bacteria and more pro-inflammatory microbes, which can make you more prone to certain infections and digestive disorders like inflammatory bowel disease or Crohn’s disease. Certain additives, like emulsifiers, have been shown to damage the gut’s protective lining and promote inflammation.
Artificial sweeteners have also been shown to alter gut bacteria in ways that have been linked to impaired blood sugar regulation. Over time, these changes may contribute to metabolic and inflammatory conditions, like type 2 diabetes, obesity, insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease.
Brain health and reward pathways: UPFs can also negatively impact your brain health. If you ever feel like you have a hard time saying no to that extra chip, it’s not just a lack of willpower. Food that is ultra-processed is engineered to overstimulate the brain’s reward system, increasing dopamine signaling—the same chemical involved in pleasure and motivation. This makes these foods more craveable and reinforces repeated eating. Some research has shown that ultra-processed foods like ice cream can activate reward pathways to be even as addictive as cigarettes or drugs like heroin.
Emerging research also suggests that diets high in ultra-processed foods may affect mood, memory, and long-term brain health. People who have diets high in ultra-processed foods may have a greater chance of feeling depressed and anxious than those who eat a more whole foods diet. Emerging research suggests they may be associated with poorer cognitive function and a faster rate of cognitive decline. Scientists are further investigating their theories that these brain changes may be driven by chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and vascular damage—all of which impair blood flow and energy delivery to the brain.
Related: 9 science-backed strategies to help maintain a healthy brain
Cardiovascular health: Research suggests that consuming ultra-processed foods places people at a significantly increased risk for heart complications. One study of 200,000 participants and a meta health analysis of 1.2 million people found those who ate a lot of UPFs had a 17% greater cardiovascular disease risk, 23% greater coronary heart disease risk, and 9% greater stroke risk compared with those with the lowest intake.
Emerging evidence is pointing towards ultra-processed foods contributing to the development of hypertension, as well as an increased risk of dysilpidemia—developing abnormal levels of fats (lipids) in your bloodstream. Over time, these changes can accelerate the buildup of plaque inside arteries. And long-term observational studies show that higher ultra-processed food consumption is associated with greater cardiovascular disease–related mortality.
Who is most affected?
While many people incorporate some degree of ultra-processed foods into their diets, research suggests certain groups may be more vulnerable to their negative effects, particularly when these foods make up a large share of their diets. These include:
People with limited time or access to fresh food: Ultra-processed foods are consumed more frequently by people facing time or limited access to fresh, affordable foods. For these groups, prepackaged meals can be a more practical option than regularly sourcing fresh ingredients. And research suggests that the more UPF you consume, the higher the health risks.
People using weight-loss medications (GLP-1s): Studies show that when taking prescription weight loss drugs, people have a tendency to gravitate to easy, soft, convenient foods, causing them to reach for more UPF.
Children & teens: UPFs are estimated to be up to 70% of the diets of younger generations. Kids who fill up on these foods forgo the nutrients provided by whole foods. Early overconsumption of these foods can create lasting preferences and metabolic risks that follow into adulthood, leading to increased chronic disease risk.
Shift workers with disrupted glucose metabolism: Shift work has been shown to disrupt circadian rhythms and glucose metabolism. Diets high in ultra-processed foods may further worsen insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk.
While dietary choices don’t immediately show their effects, what you eat is quietly shaping your health over time. A Prenuvo Whole Body Scan with Body Composition Analysis can help people understand how the quality of their diet might be affecting internal health, including visceral fat volume, fat accumulation in the liver, and the balance between muscle mass and fat mass. The scan may also help identify hundreds of conditions, including structural changes in organs like the pancreas, which plays a key role in metabolic health.
When paired with advanced blood markers such as A1c (blood sugar), insulin, ApoB (risk factor for cardiovascular disease), and hs-CRP (inflammation levels)—these insights can offer a more complete picture of metabolic and inflammatory health. Having this knowledge can help you better understand how long-term dietary patterns may be affecting your body—and empower you to make changes before symptoms appear.
Related: What your bloodwork says about your health
See how your food choices may be affecting your health. To learn more about the benefits of whole body MRI and other Prenuvo services including our Body Composition Analysis and blood biomarker testing, book a call with a member of our team.
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