What Matters More? What You Eat or How It’s Made?
More than 200,000 adults were studied, and researchers found diet quality predicted heart disease, diabetes and early death more clearly than processing level.
- At NUTRITION 2026 in National Harbor, Maryland, researchers reported that nutritional quality is a stronger predictor of long-term health outcomes than a food's level of processing.
- Using data from three studies following more than 200,000 American adults from the 1980s through the 2020s, the team assessed participants' plant-based eating habits and overall diet healthfulness.
- Categorizing foods by the Nova system revealed that risks for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and dying young were similar regardless of whether diets were ultra-processed or minimally processed.
- Xiaowen Wang, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, urged people to "focus on what you're eating overall, not just whether it's processed."
- Wang noted that advising people to universally avoid ultra-processed foods can reduce diet quality, since some processed items provide essential nutrients like fiber and antioxidants.
41 Articles
41 Articles
Landmark study of 200,000 people reveals surprising trust about processed foods and health
Ultra-processed foods have long been vilified by nutritionists, but they may be softening their stance after new research suggests what matters most for long-term health is the overall nutritional quality of a diet, not how processed the food is. New research led by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health tracked more than 200,000 people across three separate long-term studies spanning thirty years.Participants’ diets were sorted into four…
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What matters more? What you eat or how it’s made?
A study found the quality of a person's diet was strongly associated with their risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and dying young.
Your Overall Diet May Matter More Than Whether Foods Are Ultra-Processed
Fact checked by Nick BlackmerNew research suggests there’s room for processed foods, such as some cereals, in a healthy diet.Credit: douglas324 / Getty ImagesNew research suggests that the overall quality of your diet may matter more than whether the foods you eat are processed.Diet quality was a stronger predictor of health outcomes than food processing levels.That doesn’t mean ultra-processed foods are healthy, but experts said it suggests tha…
expert reaction to unpublished study suggesting that diet quality matters more than food processing level
An unpublished study presented at Nutrition 2026 looks at diet quality and food processing levels. Dr Beverley O’Hara, Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition at Leeds Beckett University, said: “This is a large study which addresses a very timely question. This study is different from most studies of ‘ultra processed’ food (UPF) because of the way they have broken down dietary components according to whether or not they are plant derived. This giv…
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