{"id":14577,"date":"2026-03-10T16:27:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/?p=14577"},"modified":"2026-03-10T16:27:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:27:57","slug":"news-plant-based-food-increases-heart-attack-risk-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/?p=14577","title":{"rendered":"NEWS: Plant-Based Food Increases Heart Attack Risk, Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/slaynews.com\/author\/frank-bergman\/\">Frank Bergman<\/a><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A sweeping new study is turning the plant-based industry on its head after researchers found that people who follow ultra-processed vegan or plant-focused diets may face dramatically higher risks of heart disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years, plant-based diets have been promoted as inherently healthier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This message has been pushed heavily by governments, major food companies, and environmental activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, researchers say the picture changes entirely once these diets rely on the highly processed packaged foods that now dominate supermarket \u201cplant-based\u201d shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The study,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanepe\/article\/PIIS2666-7762(25)00262-5\/fulltext\">published<\/a>&nbsp;in The Lancet, followed more than 63,800 adults in France and found that the heart-health benefits associated with plant-based eating only occur when people consume whole, minimally processed foods, not fake meats, packaged salads drenched in additives, or ultra-processed \u201chealthy\u201d convenience meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lead author Cl\u00e9mentine Prioux of Sorbonne University said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur findings reinforce the necessity of advocating not only for a reduction in animal products but also encouraging the consumption of minimally processed plant\u2013based foods to improve cardiovascular health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, researchers found the opposite happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Heart-Disease Risk Surges 46%<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over an average follow-up of nine years, people sticking to whole-food plant-based diets were 44% less likely to develop coronary heart disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But those eating diets dominated by ultra-processed plant-based products saw:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 a 46% higher risk of coronary heart disease<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 a 38% higher risk of cardiovascular disease overall<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These individuals were more likely to consume items heavily marketed as \u201chealthy,\u201d such as grocery store breads, boxed pasta dishes, packaged soups, and ready-made salads full of emulsifiers, stabilizers, and industrial seed oils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The findings align with growing research showing that people who adopt plant-based diets often replace meat with highly engineered substitutes, many of which are more processed than the foods they\u2019re meant to replace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Importantly, the study found that people who ate some animal products but avoided ultra-processed foods had no higher heart-disease risk than those on clean, whole-food plant-based diets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In other words, food quality mattered more than whether the diet was plant-based or animal-based.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>One of the Largest Studies of Its Kind<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The massive dataset came from the French NutriNet-Sant\u00e9 cohort, which tracks diet, health, and lifestyle factors over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Participants recorded every food and drink they consumed using repeated 24-hour food-tracking logs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The researchers cross-referenced diet reports with blood and urine biomarkers and categorized each food using the well-established NOVA processing scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOVA separates foods into three key groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Unprocessed or minimally processed: fruits, vegetables, grains, fresh meats, fish<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Processed: cheese, canned vegetables, freshly baked bread<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Ultra-processed: industrial formulations with additives, emulsifiers, flavorings, preservatives<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ultra-processed foods are typically high in sugar, salt, seed oils, and calories, while being stripped of fiber and micronutrients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the study, ultra-processed plant-based diets delivered the worst outcomes of all, nearly a 40% rise in heart-disease risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Serious Warning for the West<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The researchers noted the findings may be especially relevant to Western nations, where the market is saturated with processed plant-based products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previous studies show Americans consume roughly twice as many ultra-processed plant-based foods as people in several European countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time, data shows heart attacks are rising in younger adults, with the sharpest increase, 95%, among those aged 25 to 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Experts say poor diet, obesity, and heavy intake of processed foods are key contributors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the study highlighted that ultra-processed animal-based foods carry an even higher risk, the bottom line is clear that once a diet becomes ultra-processed, the \u201cplant-based\u201d label does not make it healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researchers concluded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTaken together, these results highlight the importance of considering three dimensions of diet for cardiovascular prevention \u2013 the balance between plant\u2013 and animal\u2013based foods, nutritional quality and degree of processing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The findings add to mounting evidence that the modern food system, not meat, not dairy, not plants, is the main driver of today\u2019s food-related cardiovascular epidemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/makisw.substack.com\/\">https:\/\/makisw.substack.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frank Bergman A sweeping new study is turning the plant-based industry on its head after researchers found that people who follow ultra-processed vegan or plant-focused diets may face dramatically higher risks of heart disease. For years, plant-based diets have been promoted as inherently healthier. This message has been pushed heavily by governments, major food companies, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14577"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14579,"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14577\/revisions\/14579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oudensxolion.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}