They’re more common than ever. But are ultra processed vegan foods bad for us?
By Chere Di Boscio
The truth is, a vegan diet can be very healthy. It’s high in fibre, and all those plants also deliver loads of vitamins and minerals. Sure, we need to keep an eye on our B12 and proteins, but that’s easy. Just take a supplement, and ensure you’re getting plenty of lentils, tofu, beans, chickpeas and nuts.
In fact, veganism is rising in popularity, perhaps because the diet is so healthy overall. And as a result, there are increasing numbers of brands providing tasty foods, like commercial veggie burgers, sausages and nuggets.
These are promoted as being healthy foods. In fact, for many, ‘plant based’ has become synonymous with ‘healthy’.
However, recent research published in The Lancet Regional Health Europe shows these and other plant-based, ultra processed vegan foods are anything but good for us. In fact, they’ve been proven to increase our risk of cardiovascular disease.
Here’s why.
What Are Ultra Processed Foods?
First, we need to define what ultra processed (UP) foods are.
These are defined by NOVA, a system established by Brazilian researchers led by nutrition and public health professor Dr. Carlos Monteiro.
Nova’s system categorises all foods and food products into four groups, which you can see above. The system is used worldwide to identify and categorise food according to its level of industrial processing.
Nova basically defines UPF as high in unhealthy saturated fats, sugars, and salt, but low in protein, fibre, and micronutrients.
Processed Vegan Foods & Cardiovascular Disease
The Lancet study mentioned above showed that eating natural, non-processed foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, was highly beneficial. Every 10% increase in unprocessed plant-based foods was associated with a 7% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 13% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality. Yay!
However, consuming most plant-based UP foods wasn’t so great. Eating this stuff – think – Beyond Burgers, Impossible Burgers or Quorn – was linked with a 5% increased risk of cardiovascular disease and a 12% higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality.
Study author Eszter Vamos, from Imperial College London, says, “While ultra processed foods are often marketed as healthy foods, this large study shows that plant-based ultra processed foods do not seem to have protective health effects and are linked to poor health outcomes.”
Which Vegan Foods Are Riskiest?
The findings of this study are particularly important given the rising trend of new plant-based ultra-processed products flooding the market.
Vegans and vegetarians are especially vulnerable to the detrimental effects of these foods, as they tend to consume more of them.
So, which ultra-processed vegan foods are the worst?
According to the study, they are:
- Veggie burgers and sausages based on processed plant proteins and lab-grown ‘foods’
- Oil based vegan cheese and other vegan ‘dairy’ products
- Any kind of fried vegetable chips
- Plant-based milks containing carrageenan
- Vegan fast foods from major fast food outlets
While you can easily make healthy vegan burgers and sausages based on beans, legumes or tofu, the study is talking about commercial brands that use loads of unhealthy fats, sodium, and highly processed proteins.
Surprisingly, for example, a vegan burger from KFC in the UK contains 2.91g of salt compared to 2.02g for their fillet burger or 1.97g for their Zinger burger. There is also more sugar and carbohydrates, and less protein in the vegan burger, for example.
The same goes for cheeses. You can make vegan cheese with everything from cashews and other nuts to sweet potatoes. But commercial ones are often made from highly processed, unnatural seed and vegetable oils.
In addition, these highly processed foods contain loads of additives, artificial flavours, sodium, preservatives, MSG, and contaminants formed during processing. And additives may have adverse effects on the gut microbiome and related inflammation.
According to the Lancet study:
Certain food additives found in UPF, such as monosodium glutamate and artificial sweeteners, as well as contaminants formed during industrial processing, such as acrolein, have been associated with an increased risk of CVD, possibly through oxidative stress, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, metabolic dysregulation, insulin resistance, and alterations in gut microbiota composition.”
Finally, harmful contaminants, such as bisphenols, microplastics and phthalates often exist in packaging materials and can migrate into packaged food.
Why Industrial Seed Oils Are Nasty
Unfortunately, ultra-processed vegan foods are linked to heart risks and other health problems for one main reason: seed oils. Also known as vegetable oils, these include corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil and canola oil.
The problem is that vegetable and seed oils are high in the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid (LA). At a molecular level, excess LA consumption damages your metabolism and impedes your body’s ability to generate energy in your mitochondria. Ultimately, this drives chronic disease.
Another issue with these fats is that they are chemically unstable. This makes them highly prone to being damaged by oxygen, causing them to form dangerous free radicals that damage your cell membranes, mitochondria, proteins and even your DNA.
So, don’t fall for the marketing that tells us that processed foods, like lab-made plant-based meat and cheese, are good for us. These products are heavily processed and full of harmful oils that can really harm our health.
The biggest investors in UP foods are the likes of the Gates Foundation and corporate investors such as Capstone Investment Advisors. No surprises for learning that they also invest heavily in pharmaceutical companies that present the ‘solutions’ for the health problems UP foods cause!
A Worldwide Problem
And yes, it’s a sad fact that ultra processed vegan foods are increasing diseases around the world. Namely, according to research published in Obesity Reviews, they’re creating more diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and 13 of the 15 major cancers.
The authors of the study explain:
“At present, all high‐income and many low‐ and middle‐income countries are in a stage of the transition where nutrition‐related noncommunicable diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension are dominating adult morbidity and mortality and are very high or growing rapidly in prevalence … All low‐ and middle‐income countries face rapid growth in consumption of ultraprocessed food and beverages.”
But it’s hard to avoid ultra processed food when it’s so cheap. And these days, many of us find it necessary to pinch pennies.
Weirdly, over the last decade, prices for fresh, unprocessed foods have increased at a greater rate than prices for ultra processed foods, making them more tempting than ever.
But believe me: what you save on groceries, you’ll spend on medicines! More of which is below.
Specific Health Issues Caused By Vegan Junk Food
Now, let’s take a closer look at the health risks of eating ultra processed vegan food.
Evidence shows that eating more ultra processed vegan foods is linked to:
- Higher risks of heart disease-related death
- Type 2 diabetes
- anxiety, depression and other common mental disorders.
- There was also strong evidence suggesting these foods increased the risk of death from any cause, sleep problems, wheezing and obesity.
The researchers pointed to the “perfect storm” of characteristics in ultraprocessed foods, which likely work synergistically to harm human health:
Although mechanistic research is still in its infancy, emerging evidence suggests that such properties may pose synergistic or compounded consequences for chronic inflammatory diseases and may act through known or plausible physiological mechanisms including changes to the gut microbiome and increased inflammation.”
The Case For UP Vegan Food
All of that being said, there are also those who still promote UP vegan food. They claim that processed meats, such as ‘real’ hot dogs, salami and bologna, are worse for our health that vegan UP food. And that’s usually true.
They also state that these vegan options appeal to carnivores and save animals’ lives. Yep, also true.
Finally, they argue that there is at least some good nutrition in UP vegan foods, and that they’re better for the planet than eating meat.
Well, I have a problem with that.
There’s probably some good nutrition in a box of Frosted Flakes, but it there are lots of healthy cereals you should be eating instead. So, bad argument.
And yes, industrial animal farming is terrible for the planet. But that doesn’t mean you have to eat junk food instead of meat!
Easy Solutions
The reality is – if you want to eat a vegan diet that’s good for you and the planet, you should cut down on, or totally cut out, ultra processed vegan foods.
It’s easy to make healthy vegan food that’s super tasty, too. In fact, Eluxe is full of dairy free and meat free recipes, check them out!
If cooking fresh food seems nearly impossible, just try thinking of it as an opportunity rather than a challenge. By eliminating unhealthy foods, you’re going to make space in your diet for natural, fresh produce that give you all the essential nutrients your body needs to heal and stay healthy.
Try to ignore the heavy marketing of UP foods as being healthy. Remember that just because something is plant-based doesn’t mean it’s good for us. And above all, remember who is promoting those UP foods – those who stand to profit from our poor health.
A homemade lentil burger never sounded like a better idea!
What do you think of ultra processed vegan foods? Let us know in the comments, below!
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