The Negative Impacts of Ultra Processed Foods on Health

Given the time constraints in our daily routines, convenience sometimes trumps the healthy eating tug of war over preparing nourishing and good quality whole foods made at home.

Grocery store shelves are packed with rows upon rows of brightly colored snacks, frozen meals, and drinks to give us that quick salt fat, and sugar fix, but at what price?

As a Registered Dietitian, I get lots of questions about ultra processed foods. Some confusion stems from social media influencers taking money from junk food companies in sponsored posts, who are paid to profess that the negative press is a bunch of woo. Ultra processed food manufacturers are savvy in marketing techniques to make junk foods look healthy on the front of the package by throwing in some vitamins, processed proteins, bits of fiber, and touting health claims. There is also a movement to recommend overblown amounts of protein from personal trainers and influencers, leaving consumers to choose processed bars and other ultra processed foods fortified with protein trying to figure out how to meet these unwarranted volumes of protein grams.

I’m here to set the record straight on these highly adulterated, highly processed, and highly inflammatory foods we now call Ultra Processed Foods.

Ultra Processed Foods (UPFs) are made by big food companies with one goal. To reign in record profits for shareholders by manufacturing industrially fabricated, heavily altered, and addictive products that are often completely removed from how they exist in nature, and are chock full of additives like emulsifiers, preservatives, artificial colors, and flavor enhancers that are inflammatory and wreck your gut lining.

While they are fabricated to taste good and save time, research increasingly shows that ultra-processed foods come with a steep price to your wallet, waistline, and in some cases, your physical and mental health. From chronic disease risk to gut microbiome disruption, the impacts of UPFs reach far beyond empty calories.

This article explores the potential negative impacts of ultra-processed foods, why they’re so harmful, what you can do to limit them in your diet, and gives prime examples of what to look for on your nutrition labels.

Are All Processed Foods Bad?

Not all processed foods are bad. Many healthy foods are at least somewhat “processed.” That block of tofu? Processed! It was made from boiling soy beans to a milk, then coagulating it, usually with a calcium salt, to form the block you see in the supermarket. It is technically processed, yet highly nutritious just like the native soy bean from where it was made.

Washing, freezing, or chopping vegetables are forms of “processing” that we use for food preparation, and to keep foods safe.

Minimally processed and less adulterated foods like canned beans, ready prepared and vacuum packed grains without additives, frozen fruits and vegetables without sugar and additives, and tinned fish, are not only highly nutritious, they are convenient, and often a budget friendly way to stock your pantry.

What Exactly Are Ultra-Processed Foods?

Ultra-processed foods are a different story. According to the NOVA food classification, a widely recognized system used by researchers to categorize and describe foods and infant formulas based on processing levels, UPFs are foods that have some or all of these elements:

• Contain little to no whole ingredients in their natural state
• Include added sugars, fats, refined starches, and/or salt
• Contain chemical additives such as artificial colorings and flavorings, stabilizers, and preservatives
• Are designed to be so “palatable” they keep you coming back for more
• Are shelf-stable for some time

Examples include:

• Soda, energy drinks, and sweetened coffee drinks like Dunkin’ Coolatta and Starbucks Lattes pumped with syrups
• Chips, cookies, and candy like Nabisco Chips Ahoy
• Instant noodles and boxed pasta meals like Stouffer’s Spaghetti and Meatballs
• Fast food burgers, fries, chicken nuggets, sandwiches, wraps, and hashbrowns from chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, and Subway to name a few. In fact the National Institutes of Health found that 85% of food sold at the six top selling fast foods chains falls under UPFs per NOVA standards
• Packaged breakfast cereals, including some of the childhood favorites, such as Honey Nut Cheerios, Froot Loops, Cocoa Pebbles, and Cap’n Crunch
• Flavored yogurts with granola like Chobani Flip and Kellogg’s YoCrunch, and snack and protein bars like Nature Valley Bars, and even some you might think are healthy, like Quest Bars

Start reading your labels. You’ll be surprised to see foods that look healthy on the front of the packaging, aren’t so healthy when you flip the package around and read the ingredients and nutrition panel

How to Read a Food Label for Ultra Processed Foods

Here are some examples of ingredients you may notice on labels

Besides the chemicals, dyes, artificial flavors, preservatives, a large Dunkin’ Coolatta has 110 grams of added sugars, including high fructose corn syrup, which is the equivalent to MORE THAN ½ cup of added sugars

Chips Ahoy contain highly processed refined flours and sugars that can spike glucose, plus caramel coloring, an additive that has been associated with increased risk of certain cancers

Protein bars like Quest may appear healthy because they are touted as “low carb,” but low carb does not mean healthy. It has whey protein isolate, or the extracted protein fraction vs. getting a whole protein food with all of the other benefits. Quest bars also have erythritol, a sugar substitute that has been linked to potential platelet aggregation and may increase risk for heart attack or stroke.

Negative Health Impacts of Ultra-Processed Foods

1. Ultra-Processed Foods and Obesity

Research shows an association of UPFs with weight gain and obesity. These products are designed to encourage overeating by combining sugar, salt, and fat in ways that overstimulates the brain’s reward centers by giving you a dopamine hit.

That’s why you may open a crunchy snack like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos intending to have a handful, then find that same hand scratching across the bottom of the bag scraping up the bits of MSG, maltodextrin, cheese, chemicals, and artificial colorings that turn your fingers orange.

Because UPFs are high in calories but low in nutrients and fiber, they don’t keep you full, leading to excess calorie consumption and over time, weight gain.

2. Increased Risk of Chronic Diseases

Regular consumption of ultra-processed foods has been associated to higher risks of:

• Type 2 diabetes: Overconsumption of refined starches and sugars can cause swings in insulin and blood sugar, exhausting the pancreas, ultimately leading to insulin resistance and blood sugar spikes.
• Heart disease: Sodium, unhealthy fats, and sugar contribute to hypertension, unhealthy levels of cholesterol, and are inflammatory, damaging the blood vessels that supply the heart.
• Cancer: Several mechanisms are at play here. UPF’s are associated with obesity which increases risk for at least 13 types of cancer, some chemicals in UPF’s may be carcinogenic in and of themselves, and these foods lack the anti-inflammatory phytonutrients that protect us from certain cancers.

It’s not that you cannot enjoy a treat here and there, but this is definitely a “less is more” when making your day to day choices. Loading your diet with fat, sugar, and salt makes your palate expect an intensity of these elements, leading foods in their natural form taste “boring.” Having worked with thousands of clients in getting off Door Dash and sugar, even a two week break from these foods can reset the palate so foods in their natural form, like fruits, taste sweet again.

3. Gut Health Disruption

A healthy gut holds trillions of beneficial bacteria that make up your microbiome, with many functions including favorably modulating immune response. Microbiome needs fiber and real foods to thrive. UPFs often contain:

• Artificial sweeteners – Gut microbiome feeds off e.g. sucralose and saccharin, changing the profile of gut bacteria and may disrupt glucose tolerance
• Emulsifiers and preservatives that damage gut lining and reduce microbial diversity
• Low fiber content, which starves beneficial bacteria

This imbalance can trigger inflammation, “leaky gut,” and lead to an overreaction of the immune system. Inflammation is not only a key factor in triggering and progression of autoimmune disease, it is the root of all chronic disease including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.

4. Addictive Eating Behaviors

UPFs are engineered to hit the “bliss point”—the exact combination of sugar, salt, and fat that maximizes pleasure. This creates cravings and leads to addictive eating behaviors, making it difficult to stop at just one serving.

That hit of dopamine, satisfying mouthfeel, and taste experience may trigger a cycle of overeating, followed by restriction, and then turning back to processed foods for quick comfort.

5. Poor Nutritional Quality

Don’t fall for the hype of UPFs throwing in protein and/or bits of fiber and vitamins to try to make healthy label claims – They are NOT nutritious, and often lack:

• Fiber From Whole Food Sources for satiety, regularity, and to bolster healthy gut microbiome
• Vitamins and Minerals like magnesium, potassium, and vitamin C
• Healthy Fats such as omega-3s
• Anti-Inflammatory Phytonutrients such as carotenoids, flavonoids, and polyphenols

Even when fortified, these foods cannot match the nutrient density of whole, minimally processed alternatives. Real and whole foods outperform these products every time.

6. Harmful Additives in Processed Foods

Food additives may be considered safe in small doses, but when consumed daily in multiple products, they may have health consequences:

• Polysorbate-80 and carboxymethylcellulose: can damage the gut lining, cause inflammation, and increase gut permeability, or “leaky gut”
• Nitrates and nitrites: associated with certain cancers, such as colon, kidney, thyroid, and ovarian
• Artificial sweeteners: can alter gut microbiome, and cause sugar cravings by triggering the brain’s reward system, and train your taste buds to expect naturally sweet foods to be cloyingly sweet to match the artificial sweetener

Read your labels – Long term exposure from multiple products can have significant impacts on well being

7. Impact on Mental Health

Emerging evidence shows that diets high in ultra-processed foods are tied to:

• Depression and anxiety
• Cognitive decline in older adults
• Mood swings from blood sugar crashes and nutrient deficiencies

UPFs don’t just affect your body, they have negative impacts on your brain.

Why Ultra-Processed Foods Are Hard to Avoid

UPFs dominate modern food environments because they are:

• Cheap to produce
• Convenient for busy lifestyles
• Heavily marketed, especially to children

This makes them difficult to avoid without conscious planning.

How to Limit Ultra-Processed Foods in Your Diet

You don’t need to eliminate UPFs completely to achieve vibrant health. Small changes over time can result in big changes that are sustainable:

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Shop the grocery store with a list that includes an abundance of whole foods which includes the periphery of the store, but there are plenty of good choices in those aisles like whole grains, canned and dried beans, tinned fish, plus canned and frozen beans, grains, fruits, and vegetables to keep your pantry stocked with quick healthy options

Cook more meals at home using whole ingredients – not ready prepared foods from the grocery store, or packaged foods that are adulterated with lots of other ingredients

Read ingredient lists—look for whole foods that you recognize, not ingredients that are proteins and fibers that were isolated from their original sources by the manufacturers, and limit emulsifiers like carrageenan and polysorbates, and avoid where possible artificial dyes and flavorings

Replace sugary drinks with calorie free beverages like water, sparkling water, or unsweetened tea with a squeeze of citrus

Snack smart with whole foods that are satisfying, and full of phytonutrients and fiber like fruits, nuts, boiled eggs, leftovers from a previous meal, or hummus and veggies

Plan ahead so healthy meals are ready when life gets busy

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Final Thoughts

Despite what the paid influencer says, the evidence is clear: ultra-processed foods are harmful to health. From obesity and diabetes to gut health issues and mental health melee, the negative impacts of processed foods extend far beyond empty calories.

The good news? You don’t need to overhaul your diet overnight. By making gradual changes such as planning ahead with grocery shopping lists, meal planning, cooking at home, reading labels, and prioritizing whole foods you can significantly cut back on UPFs and reclaim your health.

Food is not just about convenience; it’s about nourishment. Shifting away from ultra-processed foods is one of the most powerful ways to protect your long-term health and physical and mental well-being.