Articles on Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs)
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Explore these essential articles—from scientific studies to investigative journalism—that shed light on the risks, science, and societal impact of UPFs.
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Understanding Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs)
‘Deny, denounce, delay’: the battle over the risk of ultra-processed foods
Madeleine Speed, Ella Hollowood, Sarah Neville – Financial Times, May 23, 2024
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Look for these 9 red flags to identify food that is ultra-processed
Anahad O’Connor – Washington Post, Jan 2, 2024
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Is That Food Ultra-Processed? How to Tell
Andrea Petersen – Wall Street Journal, Dec 6, 2023
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What Are Ultraprocessed Foods, And Are They Bad For You?
Tanya Lewis, Josh Fischman, et al. – Scientific American, Nov 1, 2023
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Is it Time to Scrap Ultraprocessed Foods?
Kelli Whitlock Burton – Medscape, Oct 24, 2023
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Ultra-processed foods: the 19 things everyone needs to know
Rachel Dixon – The Guardian, Sept 6, 2023
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What happened when a doctor only ate ultra-processed food for a month
Allison Aubrey – NPR, July 25, 2023
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Why many ultra-processed foods are so unhealthy
Anahad O’Connor and Aaron Steckelberg – Washington Post, June 27, 2023
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What we know about the health risks of ultra-processed foods
Maria Godoy – NPR, May 25, 2023
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Fat, Sugar, Salt … You’ve Been Thinking About Food All Wrong
Matt Reynolds – Wired, Feb 22, 2023
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Ultra-processed food consumption among US adults from 2001 to 2018.
Juul F, Parekh N, Martinez-Steele E, Monteiro CA, Chang VW – Am J Clin Nutr. 2022 Jan 11;115(1):211-221
Ultra‑processed Foods, Weight Gain, and Co‑morbidity Risk
Anthony Crimarco, Matthew J. Landry, Christopher D. Gardner – Current Obesity Reports (2022) 11:80–92
A Systematic Review of Worldwide Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods: Findings and Criticisms.
Marino M, Puppo F, Del Bo' C, Vinelli V, Riso P, Porrini M, Martini D – Nutrients. 2021 Aug 13;13(8):2778.
Youths Aged 2-19 Years, 1999-2018
Lu Wang, PhD, MPH; Euridice Martínez Steele, PhD; Mengxi Du, MS, MPH, RD, et al. – JAMA 2021;326;(6):519-530
How ultra-processed food took over your food basket
Bee Wilson – The Guardian, Feb 13, 2020
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Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them
Dr. Carlos A. Monteiro – Public Health Nutrition, Feb 12, 2019
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Ultra-processed foods, diet quality, and health using the NOVA classification system
Monteiro, C.A., Cannon, G., Lawrence, M., Costa Louzada, M.L. and Pereira Machado – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome 2019
NOVA. The star shines bright. [Food classification. Public health]
Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Levy RB et al. – World Nutrition Volume 7, Number 1-3, January-March 2016
Consumption of ultra-processed foods and associated sociodemographic factors in the USA between 2007 and 2012: evidence from a nationally representative cross-sectional study
Baraldi LG, Martinez Steele E, Canella DS, Monteiro CA – BMJ Open. 2018 Mar 9;8(3):e020574.
Ultra-Processed Foods and Early Death: What the Science Says
Associations between degree of food processing and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a multicentre prospective cohort analysis in
9 European countries
Esther M. González-Gila, Michèle Mattab, Fernanda Morales Berstein et al. – The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, Volume 50, 101208, March 2025
Association of ultra-processed food consumption with all cause and cause specific mortality: population based cohort study
Zhe Fang, Sinara Laurini Rossato, Dong Hang, et al. – BMJ 2024;385:e078476
High levels of ultra-processed foods linked with early death, brain issues
Anahad O’Connor – Washington Post, May 8, 2024
A high consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with higher total mortality in an adult Mediterranean population
Laura Torres-Collado, Anna Rychterd, Sandra González-Palacios et al. – Clinical Nutrition, Volume 43, Issue 3, 739 - 746, 2024
Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses
Melissa M Lane, Elizabeth Gamage, Shutong Du et al. – BMJ 2024;384:e077310
Interview by Callum Bains – Guardian, Oct. 21, 2023
Dr. George D. Lundberg – Medscape, June 26, 2023
We are trapped in a junk food cycle that is making us sick
Henry Dimbleby and Jemima Lewis – New Scientist, March 29, 2023
Ultra-processed foods and mortality: analysis from the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study
Dehghan M, Mente A, Rangarajan S, Mohan V, et al. – Am J Clin Nutr. 2023 Jan;117(1):55-63.
Premature Deaths Attributable to the Consumption of Ultraprocessed Foods in Brazil
Eduardo A.F. Nilson, Gerson Ferrari, Maria Laura C, et al. – Am J Prev Med 2023;64(1):129-136
Ultraprocessed foods contribute to disease and early death. Why do we keep eating them?
Michael LaCorte – Salon, Dec. 12, 2022
More Evidence Links Ultra-Processed Foods to Premature, Preventable Death
George Citroner – Healthline, Nov. 7, 2022
Joint association of food nutritional profile by Nutri-Score front-of-pack label and ultra-processed food intake with mortality:
Moli-sani prospective cohort study
Marialaura Bonaccio, Augusto Di Castelnuovo, Emilia Ruggiero, et al. – BMJ 2022;378:e070688
Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Adult Mortality Risk: A Systematic Review and Dose–Response Meta-Analysis of 207,291 Participants
Wanich Suksatan, Sajjad Moradi, Fatemeh Naeini, et al. – Nutrients 2022, 14(1), 174
Consumption of ultra-processed foods and health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Pagliai G, Dinu M, Madarena MP, Bonaccio M, Iacoviello L, Sofi F. Br J Nutr. 2021 Feb 14;125(3):308-318.
Association between consumption of ultra-processed foods and all cause mortality: SUN prospective cohort study
Rico-Campà A, Martínez-González MA, Alvarez-Alvarez I, et al. – BMJ. 2019 May 29;365:l1949.
Association Between Ultraprocessed Food Consumption and Risk of Mortality Among Middle-aged Adults in France
Schnabel L, Kesse-Guyot E, Allès B, et al. – JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179(4):490–498.
Ultra-processed food intake and mortality in the USA: results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
(NHANES III, 1988-1994)
Kim H, Hu EA, Rebholz CM. – Public Health Nutr. 2019 Jul;22(10):1777-1785.
Eating Processed Food Tied to Shorter Life
Nicholas Bakalar – New York Times, Feb. 12, 2019
Ultraprocessed food are easy, cheap, and could be killing you
Susan Scutti – CNN, May 30, 2019
Heavily processed food like ready meals and ice-cream linked to early death
by Ian Sample – Guardian, May 29, 2019
Ultra-Processed Foods Increase Cancer Risk
Dietary fructose enhances tumour growth indirectly via interorgan lipid transfer
Fowle-Grider, R., Rowles, J.L., Shen, I. et al. – Nature 2024; 636, 737–744 (2024)
High-fructose corn syrup fuels tumor growth in animals with cancer, a new study shows
Pamela Ferdinand – U.S. Right to Know, December 11, 2024.
Integration of lipidomics with targeted, single cell, and spatial transcriptomics defines an unresolved pro-inflammatory state in colon cancer
Ramani Soundararajan, Michelle M Maurin, Jetsen Rodriguez-Silva, et al. – Gut 2025;74:586–602
Ultra-processed foods, adiposity and risk of head and neck cancer and oesophageal adenocarcinoma in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study: a mediation analysis
Morales-Berstein, F., Biessy, C., Viallon, V. et al. Eur J Nutr 2024; 63, 377–396
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Consumption of ultra-processed foods and risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a multinational cohort study
Reynalda Cordova, Vivian Viallona, Emma Fontvieillea, et al. The Lancet Regional Health – Europe 2023; Volume 35, 100771
Study finds growing evidence of link between ultraprocessed food and cancer
Sandee LaMotte – CNN, Nov. 22, 2023
Why is cancer striking earlier? One answer could be a diet of ultra-processed foods
Devi Sridhar – Guardian, July 25, 2023
Ultra-processed food consumption and cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Isaksen, Irja Minde et al. – Clinical Nutrition 2023; 42 (6), 919 - 928
Cancer warning as experts reveal new list of foods that increase risk
Liam James – The Independent, June 5, 2023
Food processing and cancer risk in Europe: results from the prospective EPIC cohort study
Nathalie Kliemann, Fernanda Rauber, Renata Bertazzi Levy, et al. – Lancet Planet Health 2023; 7: e219-32
Ultraprocessed Foods and Cancer: Small Changes May Lower Risk
Sharon Worcester – Medscape, March 24, 2023
Ultra-processed food consumption, cancer risk and cancer mortality: a large-scale prospective analysis within the UK Biobank
Kiara Changa, Marc J. Gunterb, Fernanda Rauberc, et al. – eClinicalMedicine 2023, Volume 56, 101840
Ultra-processed food consumption and risk of colorectal cancer precursors: results from 3 prospective cohorts
Hang D, Wang L, Fang Z, et al. – J Natl Cancer Inst. 2023;115(2):155-164
Ultraprocessed foods linked to ovarian and other cancer deaths, study finds
Sandee LaMotte – CNN, Feb. 1, 2023
Ultra-Processed Food Intake and Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A Matched Case-Control Study
Jafari F, Yarmand S, Nouri M, et al. – Nutr Cancer. 2023;75(2):532-541
Association of ultra-processed food consumption with colorectal cancer risk among men and women: results from three prospective
US cohort studies
Lu Wang, Mengxi Du, Kai Wang, et al. – BMJ 2022;378:e068921
Consumption of ultra-processed foods and cancer risk: results from NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort
Fiolet T, Srour B, Sellem L, et al. – BMJ. 2018 Feb 14;360:k322
Ultra-Processed Foods Increase Cardiovascular Risk
Ultra processed foods were positively associated with all-cause mortality, as well as mortality from cerebrovascular disease and ischemic heart disease
González-Gil, Esther M. et al. – The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, Volume 50, 101208
Plant-sourced ultra-processed food consumption was associated with increased cardiovascular risk
Rauber F, Louzada ML, Chang K, et al. – The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, Volume 43, 100948, August 2024
When plant foods are ultra-processed, the health benefits disappear
Anahad O’Connor – Washington Post, June 10, 2024
Ultra-processed food exposure and heart disease mortality: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses
Lane, MM, Garnage E, Du S et al. – BMJ 2024;384:e077310
Ultra-processed food consumption was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular events
Qu Y, Hu W, Huang J, et al. – eClinicalMedicine, Volume 69, 102484, March 2024
Ultra-processed food consumption was associated with a significant increase in atrial fibrillation risk
Tu SJ, Gallagher C, Elliott AD et al. – Heart 2023;109(22):1683-1689
Ultra-processed food consumption is associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in participants with type 2 diabetes
Bonaccio M, Di Castelnuovo A, Costanzo S, et al. – Am J Clin Nutr. 2023;118(3):627-636
High ultra-processed food intake increased the risk of CVD and was associated with several protein biomarkers
Li H, Wang Y, Sonestedt E et al. – BMC Medicine 2023;21,415
Ultra-processed food raises risk of heart disease and stroke, two studies show
Andrew Gregory – Guardian, Aug. 27, 2023
Any increased level of ultra-processed food consumption was linked to higher CVEs and mortality risk
Yuan L, Hu H, Zhang J et al. – Food Funct., 2023,14, 2586-2596
Artificial sweetener consumption increased cardiovascular disease
Debras C, Chazelas E, Sellem L et al. – BMJ 2022;378:e071204
A higher proportion of ultra-processed food consumption was associated with CVD and all-cause mortality
Chen X, Chu J, Hu W, et al. – Eur J Public Health. 2022;32(5):779–785
Higher ultra-processed food intake was associated with a higher risk of coronary artery disease among middle-aged US adults
Du S, Kimi H, Rebholz CS – J Nutr. 2021;151(12):3746–3754
Even in a population with Mediterranean origins systematic consumption of ultra-processed foods was associated with increased risk of hard CVD events
M Kouvari, C Chrysohoou, E Georgousopoulou et al. – Eur Heart J. 2021;42(Suppl 1):ehab724.2433
Higher consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with increased risk of CVD incidence and mortality
Juul F, Vaidean G, Lin Y, et al. – J Am Coll Cardiol. 2021;77(12):1520–1531
Ultra-processed food consumption is associated with increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality
Bonaccio M, Di Castelnuovo A, Costanzo S, et al. – Am J Clin Nutr. 2021;113(2):446–455
Eating processed foods can increase your risk of early death from heart disease by 58%, study finds
Gabby Landsverk – Business Insider, Jan. 4, 2021
Ultra-processed food consumption was associated with cardiovascular mortality in a US population
Zhong GC, Gu HT, Peng Y et al. – Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 18, 21 (2021)
Sandee LaMotte – CNN, Feb. 28, 2024
Ultra-processed food is associated with cardiovascular disease
Anna Clark, British Heart Foundation – Aug. 27, 2021
Ultra-processed foods linked to 32 health problems: What to know
Rachel Pannett, Washington Post – Feb. 29, 2024