Check food labels for processed ingredients
Eating more ultra-processed food is linked to a 50% higher risk of dying from heart disease.
The cereal box in your hand says "whole grain" and "natural" in big letters across the front. Those words are marketing, and they say little about how the food was actually made. This habit asks you to turn one pack over each day and look for ingredients you wouldn't cook with, which takes a few seconds.
What it helps with
Ultra-processed food risks
Eating more ultra-processed food is linked to a 50% higher risk of dying from heart disease.
Anxiety and low mood
Eating more ultra-processed food is linked to 53% higher odds of common mental health problems and 48% higher odds of anxiety.
Poor sleep quality
Eating more ultra-processed food is linked to 41% higher odds of poor sleep.
Key facts
- 1In a controlled trial, adults ate about 500 more calories a day on an ultra-processed diet than on an unprocessed one.
- 2In that two-week trial, people gained about 0.9 kg on the ultra-processed diet and lost about the same on the unprocessed diet.
- 3A 2024 umbrella review of 45 meta-analyses linked higher ultra-processed food intake to worse results on 32 health measures.
- 4The most convincing links in that review included dying from heart disease, type 2 diabetes, anxiety and common mental disorders.
- 5Researchers note that ultra-processed foods often contain ingredients rarely used in home kitchens, such as protein isolates, flavorings and emulsifiers.
Why ultra-processed food matters
Ultra-processed foods are industrial products made mostly from extracted ingredients, such as refined starches, oils and protein isolates. They usually contain additives that change flavor, color or texture. Many soft drinks, packaged snacks, sweetened cereals, instant noodles and ready meals fall into this group. In several high-income countries, they make up around half of the calories people eat.
Large reviews link eating a lot of these foods to a higher risk of several health problems. The simplest way to spot them is to look for ingredients you wouldn't cook with. Once you can see them, deciding how often to eat them gets much easier.
What the ingredient list tells you
The front of a pack is mostly there to sell, and the nutrition panel shows calories, fat and sugar. The ingredient list shows how the food was put together. Researchers behind the NOVA system, a way of grouping foods by how processed they are, suggest a simple test. Check whether the list includes things you would rarely or never keep in your own kitchen.
| What to look for | Examples on the label |
|---|---|
| Unusual sugars | High-fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, dextrose |
| Modified fats | Hydrogenated or interesterified oil |
| Protein extracts | Soy protein isolate, hydrolyzed protein |
| Cosmetic additives | Flavorings, colors, emulsifiers, sweeteners |
Even one of these usually means the food belongs in the ultra-processed group. A short list of familiar foods, like oats, or tomatoes, salt and olive oil, usually means less processing. Ingredients are listed from the largest amount to the smallest, so the first few tell you the most.
What the studies found
The clearest test comes from a 2019 trial by researchers at the US National Institutes of Health. Twenty adults lived in a research clinic and ate an ultra-processed diet for two weeks and an unprocessed diet for two weeks. Both diets offered matched amounts of calories, sugar, fat, fiber and salt, and people could eat as much as they liked. On the ultra-processed diet, they ate about 500 more calories a day and gained about 0.9 kg. On the unprocessed diet, they lost about the same amount.
A 2024 umbrella review in the BMJ pooled 45 meta-analyses covering almost 10 million people. Higher intake of ultra-processed food was linked to worse results on 32 health measures. The most convincing links were with dying from heart disease, type 2 diabetes, anxiety and common mental disorders. These studies followed people over time, so they show links rather than proof that the food itself caused the problems. The trial was small and short, and researchers still don't know which features of processing matter most.
Fitting it into your day
The easiest moment is one you already have, like making breakfast. Pick up one packaged food you are about to eat and read the first five ingredients. You don't need to check every label forever, because your regular foods stay the same. If your weekly shop has about 20 packaged items and you check two new ones each trip, you will know your whole basket in about ten weeks.
You also don't need to cut out every ultra-processed food, and some, like many supermarket wholegrain breads, still offer useful fiber. Each time a pack is in your hand, look for ingredients you wouldn't cook with, then swap one staple at a time. On a tired day, one label is enough, and "I already know what's in it" rarely survives the third ingredient. Over a few weeks, you become someone who turns the box over before it goes in the cart. If you follow a diet for a medical condition, such as diabetes or a food allergy, a doctor or registered dietitian can help you read labels for your needs. Which packaged food in your kitchen will you turn over first tomorrow?
Action steps
- 1Read one ingredient list at breakfast. Pick one packaged food you are about to eat, turn it over and scan its first five ingredients.
- 2Look for ingredients you wouldn't cook with. Check for flavorings, emulsifiers, sweeteners, protein isolates or high-fructose corn syrup, which usually signal an ultra-processed food.
- 3Swap one staple a week. When a regular item turns out to be ultra-processed, try a version with a short, familiar list, like plain oats instead of a flavored cereal.
Suggested routines
- Heart disease risk
Eat 30 grams of fiber every day
Eating more fiber is linked to 31% fewer deaths from heart disease, with the biggest drop at 25 to 29 grams a day.
- Chronic disease risk
Eat 3 different colors of food daily
Eating a wider variety of colorful plant foods, rich in flavonoids, is linked to a 6% to 20% lower risk of death and major chronic diseases.
- Blood sugar control
Eat all meals in a 10-hour window
Eating within a shorter daily window for 4 to 12 weeks is linked to lower fasting insulin and better blood sugar control.
References
- Hall, K. D., et al. (2019). Ultra-processed diets cause excess calorie intake and weight gain: an inpatient randomized controlled trial of ad libitum food intake. Cell Metabolism, 30(1), 67-77.e3. doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2019.05.008
- Lane, M. M., et al. (2024). Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. BMJ, 384, e077310. doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-077310
- Monteiro, C. A., et al. (2019). Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutrition, 22(5), 936-941. doi.org/10.1017/S1368980018003762