--- title: Why Ultra-Processed Foods Are So Bad for You description: Growing research suggests that ultra-processed foods—the kind you find on grocery store shelves—may pose health risks. Here's what to avoid. canonical: https://time.com/6245237/ultra-processed-foods-diet-bad/ author: Tara Law article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-01-09T17:06:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:27.706Z article:section: Health og:title: Why Ultra-Processed Foods Are So Bad for You og:description: Recent research finds that highly processed food may pose health risks og:url: https://time.com/6245237/ultra-processed-foods-diet-bad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74938b30ef91d50c/698a3942011682f7aa982a4c/Grocery-store.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5500 og:image:height: 3094 og:image:alt: Shopping cart in the supermarket. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Ultra-Processed Foods Are So Bad for You twitter:description: Recent research finds that highly processed food may pose health risks twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt74938b30ef91d50c/698a3942011682f7aa982a4c/Grocery-store.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Ultra-Processed Foods Are So Bad for You > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Dr. Anthony Fauci Is Stepping Down. Here’s His Advice For His Successor [Watch (HLS stream): Dr. Anthony Fauci Is Stepping Down. Here’s His Advice For His Successor](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WnmPuQgL.m3u8) (8:53)  _Published 2022-12-20. Dr. Anthony Fauci is leaving his post as NIAID director and chief medical advisor to President Biden. He hopes to impart a few lessons._  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Jan 9, 2023 5:06 PM UTC  Shopping cart Shopping cart Getty Images—kutay tanir  by [Tara Law](https://time.com/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Jan 9, 2023 5:06 PM UTC Most people recognize that a nutritious diet promotes [a healthy life](https://time.com/5761592/how-to-live-longer-and-healthier/), but navigating the wide range of options at your grocery store isn’t always straightforward—especially when so many foods are advertised as healthy ([but aren’t](https://time.com/4931068/are-these-healthy-foods-really-good-for-you/)). A growing number of recent studies have raised health concerns about a certain type of food that most Americans eat: [ultra-processed foods](https://time.com/4252515/calories-processed-food/). One such [study](https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2822%2900429-9/fulltext), published in November 2022 in the _American Journal of_ _Preventive_ _Medicine,_ concluded that these foods likely contributed to about 10% of deaths among people 30 to 69 years old in Brazil in 2019\. Other studies—including [one](https://n.neurology.org/content/99/10/e1056) published in _Neurology_ in July 2022 finding that a 10% increase in [ultra-processed food consumption](https://time.com/5589702/processed-foods-weight-gain-diet/) raises the risk of dementia—have linked the food category to severe health outcomes. Unlike minimally processed food or unprocessed foods—like eggs, for example, which travel from the farm to your kitchen looking pretty much the same—ultra-processed foods have been radically changed by manufacturers. By the time they hit your grocery shelf, they’ve likely been heated, pressed, and [enhanced by additives](https://time.com/4253751/the-dark-side-of-the-way-americans-eat/) designed to make them last longer, taste better, and appear more attractive, often to the detriment of your health. Here’s what you need to know about ultra-processed foods. --- ### More from TIME --- ## **What are ultra-processed foods?** Ultra-processed foods are “made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods and additives,” write the authors of a 2017 [commentary](https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/2A9776922A28F8F757BDA32C3266AC2A/S1368980017000234a.pdf/div-class-title-the-un-decade-of-nutrition-the-nova-food-classification-and-the-trouble-with-ultra-processing-div.pdf) published in the journal _Public Health Nutrition_. These additives are ingredients not usually used in home cooking, like preservatives, dyes, and non-sugar sweeteners. This definition covers a wide range of foods in your local grocery store—from instant soup to packaged snacks to certain meat products, including sausages, burgers, and hot dogs. Such foods tend to have telltale signs, says Tim Spector, a professor in genetic epidemiology at King’s College London and author of _Food for Life: The New Science of Eating Well_. Typically, he says, they have a very long shelf life and 10 or more ingredients, which often include “products that you wouldn’t find in your kitchen or you can’t understand.” They’re distinct from how some nutrition researchers [define](https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/2A9776922A28F8F757BDA32C3266AC2A/S1368980017000234a.pdf/div-class-title-the-un-decade-of-nutrition-the-nova-food-classification-and-the-trouble-with-ultra-processing-div.pdf) processed or minimally processed foods. These foods tend to contain just two or three ingredients— usually a whole food plus salt, oil, or sugar—and have often been preserved, cooked, or fermented. Some of these foods include canned fish, fruit in syrup, cheese, and fresh bread. But not all ultra-processed foods are equally unhealthy. Fang Fang Zhang, chair of the division of nutrition epidemiology and data science at Tufts University, notes that whole grain, ultra-processed foods—like some packaged breads—are an important source of fiber for many people. “Even with ultra-processed food…whole grains are a better choice than refined grain,” says Zhang. Researchers at Northeastern University have also [created a tool](https://www.truefood.tech/?store=all) for comparing packaged foods in the same category in order to choose the one with the least amount of processing. For instance, in the yogurt category, one [plain organic yogurt](https://www.truefood.tech/intro?store=all) scored a 4/100 (a favorable score indicating a low amount of processing), while Oui Petite by Yoplait received a maximally processed score of 100. ## **Why are ultra-processed foods so harmful?** Longitudinal studies in the Americas and Europe have linked eating more ultra-processed food to a number of health risks, including [increases](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7282862/) in[ obesity](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5787353/),[ high blood pressure](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8955286/#:~:text=Ultra%2Dprocessed%20foods%20%28UPFs%29,%E2%80%94cardiovascular%20disease%20%5B4%5D.),[ Type 2 diabetes](https://academic.oup.com/ije/article-abstract/51/4/1120/6460628?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false), and even [dementia](https://n.neurology.org/content/99/10/e1056). Other research, including a pair of studies in the _BMJ_ by researchers in [Spain](https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l1949) and [France](https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l1451), has linked consuming ultra-processed foods to an increased risk of early death. Ultra-processed foods tend to be junk food: low in fiber and high in sugar and calories, says Zhang. But because ultra-processed foods are defined by the types of ingredients they contain, not by their nutrition content, this category can also include foods with beneficial nutrients, like breads high in fiber. Scientists who research ultra-processed foods say that there seems to be something about the processing itself—not just the nutrition content—that makes them unhealthy. In one 2019 [study](https://time.com/5589702/processed-foods-weight-gain-diet/) that supports this idea, researchers split 20 people into two groups and controlled what they ate for two weeks. Each group ate meals with identical quantities of calories, sugar, fat, fiber, and micronutrients, but one group ate a diet of ultra-processed food, while the other ate unprocessed food. In the end, the people who ate ultra-processed food gained weight, while those who ate unprocessed food lost weight. Researchers have raised several theories to explain this. One, says Eduardo A.F. Nilson, a researcher at the Center for Epidemiological Research in Nutrition and Public Health at the University of São Paulo who co-authored the Brazilian [study](https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2822%2900429-9/fulltext), is that eating ultra-processed foods changes the way people eat overall: replacing homemade food with ready-to-eat, energy-dense foods that are easier to overeat. “They are made, by design, for overconsumption,” says Nilson. “They have hyper-palatability. We say they have ‘hyper-flavors’—they will be very sweet, very salty…and because they are ready to eat, they will replace traditional diets.” Another idea, says Spector, is that ultra-processed food spurs people to [eat too quickly](https://time.com/5023122/eating-fast-obesity/). Spector and other scientists are also investigating whether the problems start after ultra-processed food reaches your gut. Spector says that in his research, he’s found that some of the chemicals in ultra-processed foods—especially emulsifiers, which are added to food to help mix substances—disrupt gut microbes, which scientists theorize send signals to the brain when you’ve had enough to eat. “Either it sends signals to the brain or to the gut microbes to eat more, or it’s simply that the food is so easy to eat that it gets into the system so fast that you don’t have time to get your fullness signals in the brain,” says Spector. ## **Not everyone agrees that all ultra-processed foods are dangerous** Critics, including Gibney, argue that the ultra-processed food category is too broad to be useful as a scientific concept. In Gibney’s view, the category of ultra-processed food incorporates too many different kinds of food, and villainizes too large a range of ingredients—including food additives, like preservatives, that public-health authorities have deemed to be safe. He argues that these problems [undermine nutrition research](https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/914A38B934EBA5632F865623219A3493/S0007114522002793a.pdf/ultra-processed-foods-in-public-health-nutrition-the-unanswered-questions.pdf), because it’s difficult to standardize which foods are included in studies. Another problem, says Gibney, is that the concept of ultra-processed food discounts the importance of reformulating food, such as by making it whole grain or lower in sugar, which he says has helped to make processed food healthier. For many people, he adds, eliminating processed food just isn’t realistic, as it makes up too much of their diet, and they don’t have the time or money to cook every meal. “Ultra-processed food as a concept is providing a simple, popular answer to what is a very complex question,” says Gibney. ## **How do I cut back on ultra-processed foods?** Experts agree that reducing consumption of ultra-processed foods shouldn’t be the public’s responsibility alone. Many people don’t live in communities with access to healthy, minimally processed food, which tends to be more expensive than ultra-processed food, says Nilson. To reduce ultra-processed food, Nilson argues that the government will need to implement policies to expand access to healthy food, such as by limiting the availability of ultra-processed food in schools. Another important policy, says Nilson, is for the government to warn the public about the dangers of ultra-processed food and to implement clear labeling. Some countries have already started to warn the public about ultra-processed foods. In 2022, for instance, Canada announced [new labeling requirements](https://canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2022/2022-07-20/html/sor-dors168-eng.html) for pre-packaged food, including [labels](https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-labelling-changes/front-package.html) when such products are high in sodium, sugars, or saturated fat, and Health Canada incorporated [warnings](https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/healthy-eating-recommendations/limit-highly-processed-foods/) about highly processed food into its online healthy food choices guide. If you want to make your own diet healthier, Spector says a mindset change is key. “We just need to get people thinking about food not in a calorie way, and think about the quality,” he says. If you want to reduce the number of ultra-processed foods you eat, Spector suggests opting for other foods that [are cheap](https://healthland.time.com/2011/08/04/how-to-make-a-healthy-diet-more-affordable/) and don’t take much preparation, like beans, lentils, and eggs. For snacks, he suggests [nuts, seeds](https://healthland.time.com/2012/09/05/eat-like-a-champion-the-best-pre-and-post-run-snacks/slide/pre-workout-a-handful-of-almonds/), and whole fruit. “Try going off \[ultra-processed food\] for a week,” he says, “and see what happens.” ## Transcript What will you do the first day that you are no longer head of n? I a i d. I'll probably sleep an extra hour and not get up at 5 in the morning, the way I have in the last 40 years. Dr. Anthony fauci announced in August that he is stepping down from his role in the federal government. He will leave the position he's held for 38 years as the Director of the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases, as well as his role as chief medical advisor to President Biden. As a health reporter. I've spoken to dr. Fauci numerous times over the years about the major outbreaks during his career, Hive Bola, H1 N1, flu, SARS MERS, and of course covid-19 before his transition to a new role. This month, I took the opportunity to conduct an exit interview, to discuss his achievements, as well as his plans for the future. My wife jokingly calls it a rewiring, I actually call it sort of the next chapter in my professional and personal life, but I would like to do is to lecture and write an advice to the extent that my advice is solicited. I have to offer 54 years of experience as a scientist at the NIH. 38 years of running, what everyone agrees is the is the largest and most important infectious disease, research institution of the world and the privilege that I've had of advising seven, presidents of the United States over that almost 40 years. As we've gone over the last 38 years, that I've been in a position of leadership and policy making at the NIH, that things have really evolve into, unfortunately, Rather intense, what I would call hostility and divisiveness in our society where political ideation has really been very I think disruptive to the kind of cooperation and collaboration that you need. It becomes particularly distressing in the arena of Public Health goes. If there's one area where you would really like to have everyone pulling together. It would be as we confront a historic, pandemics such as cold, but that's not what we're seeing. We're seeing fundamental Public Health principles of being interpreted one way or the other, depending upon what your political ideology is. I mean, how can you possibly have a situation where we know, as a matter of fact that vaccines are safe and extraordinarily life-saving, if you look at the data and yet there were people prefer variety of misinformation disinformation and conspiracy theories. Don't want to get vaccinated that just doesn't make any common sense. You mentioned the seven presidents with whom you have worked. I wonder if you could quickly, provide Just a little perspective on what it was like to what it, what your job was like, under under each of them and, you know, you mentioned kind of the New Perspective, we now have on the intersection between politics and Science. And I wonder if you could come in a little bit on how you seen that change during the course of your career, the phenomenon of having advised seven presidents. Is that a lot of what I can do and the role I have during an Administration, depends on the circumstances that are resistant within the time frame of that particular Administration George W. Bush when it comes to HIV AIDS and my mind has had the most impact of anybody in the face of preventable, death and suffering. We have a moral duty to act. And we are acting and that has to do with the fact that he gave me the privilege in the honor of being one of the architects of the pet far program which as we know, I saved more than 20 million lives. So even though there's controversy about other aspects during the administration, the fact is when it comes to saving lives. That was, I think the epitome of what we seen, the Trump Administration, you know, that it did that's very recent and is very clear that they were difficulties. Damn, because I had to be put in the position of having to contradict then of the president for things that he has said, in the impression that he was giving that the virus was going to disappear like magic. Like, I'd krotchy chloroquine was the name of the new cure for for for covid-19, totally sure what the the president was referring to, but I believe is referring to a report that used both. Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin together to have some possibility of being an affect many of the things that you hear out there are or what I had called. Anecdotal reports, they may be true, but they're anecdotal. So, the only thing that I was saying is that, if you really want a definitive Lee know, if something works that you got to do, the kind of trial that you get the good information, you know, I just felt I owed my responsibility to the American public to just stand up for what was data and evidence and facts and science. That put me in a very uncomfortable position of having a lot of opposition to me which has now continued on to this day. What would dealing with today is the reflection of the divisiveness in society where people talk about things that are Peyton Lee on true conspiracy theories, a normalization of untruth. Which is very dangerous because when Society shrug their shoulders and accept the fact that people can just say things that are Peyton Lee Falls and get away with it, you have to get into your infallible opinion be dictated by law. You personally attack me and with absolutely not a shred of evidence of anything you say. So I would like to make something clear to the committee. He's doing this for political reasons. What you need to do is he said in front of this committee, you think you're take down, if I was Ramadan, epidemiologist was not political, you know what? I'm going to say, what happens when he gets out, and accuses me of things that are completely untrue. Is that all of a sudden that Kindles the crazies out there, and I have life that threats upon my life Harassment of my family and my children will obscene phone calls because people are lying about me know, you know, I guess you could say, well, that's the way it goes. I can take the kid. Well, it is, it makes a difference. Not only is that dangerous appublichealth Alice. I think that's dangerous for our own democracy, to be honest with you. What advice, would you have for your successor? I mean, you've had a very story career and really have become Adept at finding that balance, as we discussed between, you know, standing up for the rigors of Science and communicating it to the public and navigating, you know, the, the current and inevitable, it will always be their political pressures. What advice would you have for your successor? Really to stick with the science? Number one, always go with the data with the evidence and although you may be involved in policy, stay Politics, do not at all show any ideology. One way or the other, just be a pure scientist. That's what you need in the job. 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