If you're cutting back on (or avoiding) meat, this one factor could make or break the overall health benefits.
Eating more plant-based foods is often framed as a near-guarantee for better heart health. The American Heart Association recommends seeking out “healthy sources of protein,” emphasizing the importance of plant-based options such as nuts or legumes. And if one of your 2026 resolutions was to try more plant-based alternative “meats” or ready-to-eat meals, new research suggests that how plant foods are made may matter just as much as where they come from.
A large observational study published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe in December 2025 followed more than 63,000 adults for about nine years—and some as many as 15 years—to examine how different types of plant-based foods affect cardiovascular health. Rather than grouping all plant foods together, researchers classified them based on both nutritional quality and level of processing.
Through their research, a team of French nutritional epidemiologists learned that participants who consumed more nutrient-rich, minimally processed plant foods—such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts—had a 44% lower risk of coronary heart disease and a 32% lower risk of cardiovascular disease (which can include heart attack, stroke, and other conditions).
But the picture changed dramatically when researchers looked at “lower in nutritional quality and ultra-processed” plant-based foods. Items like packaged snacks, ready-to-eat meals, sweetened breakfast cereals, refined grain products, and foods high in added sugars, salt, or unhealthy fats were linked to a 46% higher incidence of coronary heart disease and a 38% higher incidence of cardiovascular disease—even though they were technically plant-based.
Food processing plays a critical role because ultra-processed foods often contain additives, refined starches, and altered fats that can negatively affect blood sugar regulation, inflammation, and cholesterol levels—all key contributors to heart disease, according to the American College of Cardiology. While a diet rich in whole, minimally processed plant foods can support heart health, relying too heavily on processed products could create the opposite effect.
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