Research

Mixed

Among ultra-processed food subgroups, animal-based products and artificially/sugar-sweetened beverages are specifically associated with increased multimorbidity risk, while ultra-processed breads and cereals may be inversely associated.

Not all ultra-processed foods are equally risky. Prioritize reducing sugar-sweetened beverages and animal-based processed products (like processed meats), as these are most strongly linked to chronic disease multimorbidity. Ultra-processed breads and cereals may not carry the same risk, so focus your efforts on the highest-impact items.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Among UPF subgroups, associations were most notable for animal-based products (HR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.12), and artificially and sugar-sweetened beverages (HR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.12). Other subgroups such as ultra-processed breads and cereals (HR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.94, 1.00)... were not associated with risk.
Reynalda Córdova et al. · The Lancet Regional Health - Europe · 2023

Why this rating

Same robust cohort design, but subgroup analyses are inherently less powerful and more prone to residual confounding.

Source

Consumption of ultra-processed foods and risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a multinational cohort study

Reynalda Córdova et al. · The Lancet Regional Health - Europe · 2023

DOI 10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100771

cohort · n=266666Cited 204×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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