Participants with the highest intake averaged 9.3 servings of ultra-processed foods per day, while those with the lowest intake averaged 1.1 servings. Compared with the lowest group, those in the highest group had a 67% greater risk of dying from coronary heart disease or stroke, or experiencing non-fatal heart attacks, strokes or resuscitated cardiac arrest.
American College of Cardiology. “Ultra-processed foods linked to 67% higher risk of heart attack and stroke.” ScienceDaily https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260319074604.htm (accessed March 19, 2026).
I need to add a few more things to my How I Got Fat list of foods I don’t eat anymore.
Like protein bars.
Fetter says that low-calorie, high-protein bars shouldn’t be treated as wholesale replacements for other sources of protein, especially given their use of processed or artificial ingredients. “[I understand] using tools like different bars or meal replacements that could come in handy when someone is on the go, but consuming products like that just isn’t inherently healthier for you,” Debbie Fetter, a professor in nutrition at UC Davis.
Everything You Need to Know About the David Protein Bar Class-Action Lawsuit https://www.gq.com/story/david-protein-bar-lawsuit
Why would anyone want to eat a collection of concocted ingredients like this with hardly any of them recognizable as food? These bars are quintessential ultra-processed products.
Marion Nestle https://www.foodpolitics.com/2026/03/lawsuit-1-davids-protein-bars/
I’m guilty of having eaten several of those plant based burgers that bleed . Impossible Foods https://impossiblefoods.com/ marketed their burgers with a message the burgers “bleed” just like beef burgers. I no longer eat any fake meats because they are highly ultra processed.
I do miss my tofu dogs with sauerkraut though.
garyskitchen.net 