AHA Scientific Sessions 2026 AbstractNov 9, 2026, 02:14 GMT

Ultra-processed foods linked to higher heart failure risk

Each additional daily serving was associated with a 6% higher relative risk of heart failure in adults initially free of heart or blood vessel disease.

Paper by Amier Haidar, Akhil Marupudi, Rishi Rikhi, +2Michael D Shapiro · UTHealth · Wake Forest Univ Sch of Medicine

Heart cross-section with a dark, thick wall beside broader-waisted figures and more chips and cookies, opposite slimmer figures with fewer snacks.

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Populations

Studied:: Cohort study of 6,531 adults without heart or blood vessel disease
What changed:: Each additional daily serving of ultra-processed food was linked to a 6% higher risk of heart failure
The catch:: Food-frequency questionnaires can misestimate ultra-processed food intake
In the record:: The 143rd paper on ultra-processed foods with results in people; 209 on record in all.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper

Among 6,531 US adults aged 45–84 without heart or blood vessel disease at enrollment, an observational cohort study examined ultra-processed food intake and later heart failure. Participants reported their diets using a food-frequency questionnaire. During follow-up, 509 developed heart failure.

Each additional daily serving of ultra-processed food was associated with a 6% higher relative risk of heart failure after adjustment for other factors. The link mainly involved heart failure in which the heart’s main pumping chamber expelled at least 50% of its blood per beat. In statistical models, waist-to-height ratio, a proxy for abdominal fat, accounted for approximately 51% of the overall association. The authors suggested that obesity-related changes in heart and metabolic health may be an important pathway linking these foods to heart failure.

Why it matters

The findings bear on dietary approaches to preventing heart failure in middle and later life. The authors called for public health policies aimed at reducing ultra-processed food consumption.

Caveats

People who ate more ultra-processed foods may also have differed in other ways that affected heart failure risk, and questionnaires can misestimate food intake. Reported in a conference abstract, the findings do not address people who already had heart or blood vessel disease at enrollment.