The impact of plant-based foods on your heart depends more on their quality and processing than on the label alone.
Curator’s Note: A recent study from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort challenges the assumption that all plant-based foods are heart-healthy. Researchers followed 63,835 adults for about nine years, emphasizing the importance of food quality and processing. Results showed that minimally processed, nutrient-dense plant foods reduced heart disease risk by 44%, while those consuming ultra-processed plant foods faced a 46% higher risk. This indicates that not all plant-based options benefit heart health, and individuals should focus on whole, unprocessed foods rather than those laden with additives. Future dietary guidelines should prioritize nutritional quality and limit highly processed options for better heart health. This free story was written by Dr Khalid Rahman as a giveback to the community on Digitalmehmet.
Regularly buying plant-based burgers, vegan nuggets, cereal bars, or oat drinks? This study may surprise you.
New research from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort suggests some plant-based diets may raise heart disease risk, challenging the belief that plant-based foods always benefit the heart.
In this study, 63,835 adults were followed for a median of 9 years (range, 9-15). Instead of focusing only on how much steak people ate, researchers compared the amounts of plant-based and animal-based foods in their diets.
They did not stop here; they also assessed the nutritional levels of various foods and, most importantly, the level of processing. The scientists deployed the NOVA system for conducting this analysis.
This study highlights that not all plant-based diets offer the same heart health benefits.
The findings revealed that in people who were centrally dependent on minimally processed, nutrient-dense plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, there was a 44% decline in the risk of coronary heart disease. Additionally, they had a 32% lower risk of overall cardiovascular disease compared with those at the other end of the spectrum.
In contrast, people who ate more ultra-processed plant foods had a 46% higher risk of heart disease and a 38% higher risk of overall cardiovascular disease.
Check out this educational podcast for a deeper look at the science behind plant-based foods.
An important perspective to consider when choosing plant-based foods
You may have seen many headlines calling plant-based food a buzzword and suggesting it is a magic solution for heart health. However, the NutriNet-Santé data tells a different story.
The study data revealed that what really matters is which plant ingredient/part/derivative/product you intend to consume, in what form, and combined with how much processing.
Participants filled out detailed 24-hour dietary records online. Each food was classified by its source (plant or animal), nutritional quality (healthy or unhealthy plant groups), and processing level (unprocessed/minimally processed or ultra-processed).
This intervention assisted the scientists in developing new indices that captured the following unique food patterns regarding the plant-based diets:
- Healthy-unprocessed
- Healthy-ultra-processed
- Unhealthy-unprocessed
- Unhealthy-ultra-processed
This analysis highlights a crucial, often overlooked point: the way plant foods are processed matters greatly for health.
Simply swapping animal products for plant-based versions does not guarantee better heart health.
In fact, healthy plant foods can lose many of their heart-healthy benefits when processed into industrial products that contain additives, refined starches, and added sugars.
The 40-40 rule: Processing plant-based foods reduces their health benefits
A simple way to remember the findings from this study is the “40–40 rule.”
This means eating minimally processed, healthy plant foods can lower your risk of heart disease by 40%. Think of semi-cooked vegetables, fruits, lentils, chickpeas, oats, brown rice, or seeds with just a little salt, sugar, or healthy fat.
On the other hand, people who mostly ate low-quality, ultra-processed plant foods had a 40% higher risk of heart disease. These foods included sugary breakfast cereals, crisps, sweetened fruit drinks, plant-based sweets, and snack bars.
Even though some low-quality foods, like fortified wholemeal breads or low-sugar ready meals, seem healthy, much of their benefits are lost due to heavy processing.
In other words, two people who eat plant-based foods could see their heart health improve or get worse, depending on how those foods are prepared and processed.
How can ultra-processed plant foods harm heart health?
This study was observational, so it could not prove cause and effect. However, earlier research suggests there are biological reasons why ultra-processed plant-based diets can have harmful effects.
Research shows that ultra-processed foods are usually high in calories and low in fiber, but high in added sugars, salt, and unhealthy fats. These factors are known to cause high blood pressure, cholesterol problems, and weight gain.
Industrial processing of plant foods also adds ingredients such as emulsifiers, sweeteners, colorings, and texture agents. These can create new compounds, especially when foods are heated or processed at high temperatures.
More and more research links eating a lot of ultra-processed foods to higher risks of heart disease, metabolic problems, some cancers, and even depression. This shows that the way foods are processed can reduce the health benefits of plant-based foods, making them less healthy.
On the other hand, minimally processed plant-based diets retain important nutrients such as fiber, potassium, magnesium, antioxidants, polyphenols, and phytosterols. These help lower bad cholesterol, improve blood vessel health, and support a healthy gut, all of which protect your heart.
Rethinking ‘plant-based’ for everyday eating
This recent study offers a practical approach for anyone who eats plant-based foods, whether they do so often or occasionally. Here are the main takeaways:
- We should focus more on whole plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.
- Try to avoid ultra-processed foods, whether they come from plants or animals. Save them for special occasions instead of eating them every day.
- Our food should not look like it came from a chemistry lab. It should be made from real, unprocessed ingredients.
- If you’re not used to cooking beans, lentils, tofu, or whole grains, you can use meat or similar foods as a temporary option until you get more comfortable with plant-based cooking.
This new study has important public health implications. The authors suggest that future eating guidelines should not focus on a single factor but instead help people balance plant and animal foods, improve nutritional quality, and limit food processing.
This means we should move from simply ‘eating more plants’ to ‘eating more minimally processed, nutrient-rich plants’ and limiting ultra-processed foods, no matter where they come from.
A new way to protect heart health with unprocessed, plant-based foods
The NutriNet-Santé study does not argue against eating plant-based foods. Instead, it shows that a bowl of wholegrain oats with berries, nuts, or seeds is much healthier than a brightly colored, heavily processed plant-based cereal made with refined starch and syrups.
We should fill our shopping carts with foods our grandparents would recognize as pure, because ultra-processing removes most of their health benefits and makes them less suitable for heart health.
There’s no doubt that plant-based foods can help prevent heart disease, as long as they are truly plant-based and not changed by heavy processing.
Reference source
Cardiovascular disease risk and the balance between animal-based and plant-based foods, nutritional quality, and food processing level in the French NutriNet-Santé cohort: a longitudinal observational study
Prioux, Clémentine et al.
The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, Volume 59, 101470
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Dr. Khalid Rahman Health Scientist | Scholarly Communicator | Licensed Integrative Medicine Practitioner PhD (Clinical Research) | MSc (Bioinformatics) | MSc (Clinical Research & Regulatory Affairs) | Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Application | Bachelor of Unani Medicine & Surgery
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