Consumption of ultra-processed foods significantly contributes to the increase in chronic diseases.

What's this about?

People disagree about whether ultra-processed foods cause more long-term illnesses. These foods include soda, packed snacks, and many heat-and-eat meals.

What supporters say

• Big studies connect eating lots of these foods with heart disease, type 2 diabetes (a blood-sugar illness), some cancers, and earlier death.
• Studies in many places find this same health pattern, which worries health groups.
• In one small test, people ate about 500 extra calories each day on an ultra-processed food diet.
• Those people gained weight, and extra weight can raise the risk of several long-term illnesses.

What critics say

• These studies show a link, but they cannot prove that processed food alone caused the illnesses.
• People who eat more processed food may also have other habits that harm health.
• Scientists do not yet know how much harm comes from food processing itself.
• The food test lasted only four weeks and cannot show who gets ill many years later.

The bottom line

Strong evidence connects high ultra-processed food intake with more long-term disease. Scientists still need more research to tell how much processing itself causes the harm.