Leading medical experts are calling for heart patients to be explicitly advised to prioritise home cooking and significantly reduce their consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). A team of European heart specialists, in a new consensus statement, also recommended that patients adopt healthier eating habits such as eating more slowly and avoiding late-night meals.
The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) clinical consensus statement underscores that UPFs “have become a significant public health concern,” linking them to an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure. It specifically cites studies that have highlighted how the consumption of UPFs is “associated with increased cardiovascular risk, often independent of overall diet quality”.
The authors acknowledge that UPFs are “unrecognised” in current dietary advice given in heart clinics. “Current dietary counselling in clinical practice tends to overlook the potential adverse impact of UPFs, with patients not receiving comprehensive nutritional guidance,” the statement says.
The guidance offers advice for medics, including encouraging patients to cook at home more frequently, eat slower, and avoid late eating. “Cardiologists can encourage patients to cook at home more frequently by asking about current cooking habits and providing simple meal-planning resources or referrals to nutrition services,” it states. It also advises doctors to focus on advising patients against specific UPFs including sugary drinks, packaged snacks and processed meats.
Professor Luigina Guasti from the University of Insubria in Italy, one of the lead authors, said: “UPFs, made from industrial ingredients and additives, have largely replaced traditional diets. Research suggests these foods are linked to several risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, and to the risk of developing and dying from heart disease. However, this evidence has not yet made its way into the advice we give to patients on healthy eating.”
Tracy Parker, senior dietician at the British Heart Foundation, commented: “This consensus statement reinforces the substantial body of evidence that shows diets high in ultra processed foods are associated with an increased risk of heart and circulatory diseases. To reduce this risk, we need to support people to cut down on UPFs as part of improving overall diet quality. A good place to start is cutting back on foods like cakes, biscuits and ready made snacks, and cooking more meals from scratch.”
