'I'm a leading medical nutritionist and this is why it's bad that vegetarians are now eating the most ultra-processed foods'

Although eating less meat is one of the healthiest commitments you can do to help the environment, our current and future wellbeing, substituting with plant-based ultra-processed foods (UPF) mitigates any health benefits.

Several other studies have established that eating processed plant-based foods is almost as bad as eating processed meats. They both significantly increase the risk of a heart attack, stroke and ultimately early death. These include meat-free alternatives, while often marketed as healthy, such as some sausages, veggie burgers, vegan sausage rolls and nuggets, all of which are ultra processed.

The research was published in Clinical Medicine and involved nearly 200,000 participants in the UK Biobank study. This particular aspect of the data showed that the mean UPF consumption, as a proportion of total food eaten, was around 24% in vegetarians, 22% in low meat eaters (less than 3 times a week) and the lowest in flexitarians, pescatarians at about 20%. This difference was statistically significant.

Ultra-processed foods are industrially manufactured products that often contain ingredients not typically found in home kitchens, such as artificial flavours, preservatives, emulsifiers, and colourings. It’s a concerning fact that over 60% of the calories in UK kids come from UPFs. While convenient and tasty, they are linked to several health risks.

Here are some of the many reasons why UPFs are unhealthy

Low nutritional quality: UPFs are often rich in calories, unhealthy trans-fats, sugars, and salt, but lack essential nutrients like fibre, vitamins, and minerals. Their consumption may lead to “empty calories” displacing more nutrient-dense foods in the diet and contributing to deficiencies.

High in additives and artificial ingredients such as contain emulsifiers, pesticide-rich food, flavour enhancers, and colorants, which can disrupt gut health and potentially lead to chronic inflammation.

Linked to obesity and chronic metabolic diseases like diabetes. These foods are designed to be hyper-palatable, making it easy to overeat, further increasing the risk of obesity leading to an increased risk of arthritis, cancer and heart disease.

Negative Impact on gut health. The low-fibre, high-sugar or sweetener content in UPFs disturb the gut microbiota, increasing inflammation and contributing to diseases like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and metabolic syndrome.

The authors of this new study reported that for every 10% increase in ultra-processed plants eaten, there was a 5% increased risk. Not surprisingly, they also confirmed that people who eat a lot of any UPF, whether animal or plant-based, had an even higher risk (more than 30%) of, not only getting cardiovascular diseases but dying from them.

Conversely, for every 10% incremental increase in the amount of healthy unprocessed plants eaten such as fruit, vegetables, whole gains, nuts, seeds, mushrooms and beans there was a 7% lower risk of heart attacks and stroke.

Other studies have firmly established that eating non-processed plants improves immediate markers of well-being such as cognitive function, sleep, gut health and exercise performance and reduces the long-term risks of other chronic disease such as diabetes, cancer, obesity, arthritis, dementia, skin aging and osteoporosis.

The authors of both these trials were keen to point out that these results should not put people off trying to reduce their meat intake. An Oxford University study found that eating meat no more than three times a week could prevent 31,000 deaths from heart disease, 9,000 from cancer and 5,000 from stroke a year. It is very clear that UPF from meats are the worst culprits.

Cheap sausages, bacon, sliced ham and tinned meats have all been linked to a 30% greater chance of premature death from any cancer. On the bright side, meat eaters who also have a high intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains and spices only have a moderately increased cancer risk, as opposed to salad-dodging carnivores.

In conclusion based on these new studies, nutritional guidelines promoting plant-based diets should focus not only on reducing the amount of animal-products people eat, but also on the importance of the level of processing involved in the food, and avoiding UPFs.