Think All Plant-Based Meals Are Healthy? New Study Links Some to Higher Heart Attack Risk

A freezer full of plant-based meals might look like a healthy choice, but new evidence suggests it could be quietly putting hearts at risk.

New research has found that people who rely heavily on ultra processed plant-based foods face a significantly higher risk of heart disease, challenging the popular belief that all vegan or plant forward diets are automatically good for cardiovascular health.

The study, published in The Lancet, followed more than 63,800 middle aged adults in France for over nine years. Researchers discovered that plant-based diets only offered strong heart protection when they were built around whole, minimally processed foods such as fruit, vegetables, grains and legumes.

When ultra processed products entered the picture, the benefits faded fast. Participants whose plant-based diets were dominated by ready meals, packaged soups, supermarket bread and heavily dressed prepared salads were found to have a 46 per cent higher risk of coronary heart disease and a 38 per cent higher risk of cardiovascular disease overall.

Lead author Clémentine Prioux, a nutrition researcher at Sorbonne University, said: “Our findings reinforce the necessity of advocating not only for a reduction in animal products but also encouraging the consumption of minimally processed plant-based foods to improve cardiovascular health.”

By contrast, people who followed a largely unprocessed plant-based diet were 44 per cent less likely to develop coronary heart disease. Interestingly, participants who ate some animal products but avoided ultra processed foods had no greater heart risk than those on healthy plant-based diets, suggesting food quality mattered more than whether it came from plants or animals.

The research drew on detailed dietary records from the French NutriNet Santé study and accounted for lifestyle factors such as smoking and physical activity. Foods were classified using the NOVA system, which ranks items by their level of processing.

Researchers warned the findings may be especially relevant to the UK, where ultra processed plant-based products are widely available and increasingly popular. They also stressed that ultra processed animal based foods were linked to even higher heart risks.

The message, experts say, is clear. A plant-based label alone is not enough. What really counts is how much the food has been processed.