More than four serves of ultra-processed foods a day increases the risk of premature death by 62 per cent

Two large international studies have found eating too much ultra-processed foods is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

Ultra-processed foods include packaged baked goods and snacks, fizzy drinks, sugary cereals, ready meals containing food additives, dehydrated vegetable soups, and reconstituted meat and fish products - often containing high levels of added sugar, fat, and/or salt, but lacking in vitamins and fibre. They are often modified by chemicals to make them hyper-palatable.

Yet in some countries these foods account for up to 60 per cent of daily energy intake.

Previous studies have linked ultra-processed foods to higher risks of obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and some cancers, but firm evidence is still scarce.

In the first study, based on 105,159 French adults results showed that a 10 per cent increase in the proportion of ultra-processed food in the diet was associated with significantly higher rates of overall cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease (increase of 12, 13, and 11 per cent respectively).

In contrast, the researchers found a significant association between unprocessed or minimally processed foods and lower risks of all reported diseases.

In the second study, researchers based in Spain evaluated possible associations between ultra-processed food intake and risk of death from any cause ("all cause mortality") over 10 years.

Their findings are based on 19,899 Spanish university graduates (7,786 men; 12,113 women) with an average age of 38 years who completed a 136-item dietary questionnaire as part of the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) study.

Results showed that higher consumption of ultra-processed foods (more than 4 servings per day) was associated with a 62 per cent increased risk of all cause mortality compared with lower consumption (less than 2 servings per day).

For each additional daily serving of ultra-processed food, mortality risk relatively increased by 18 per cent.

Both studies are observational so can't establish causality, and there's a possibility that some of the observed risks may be due to unmeasured confounding factors.

Nevertheless, both studies took account of well known lifestyle risk factors and markers of dietary quality, and the findings back up other research linking highly processed food with poor health.

The studies were published in the British Medical Journal.