Even more evidence links highly processed food to a greater risk of cancer and death

A pair of studies published Wednesday highlights the risk of frequently eating items such as hot dogs, cheese puffs, soda and french fries.

The first study, which looked at more than 24,000 adults in Italy, found that those who consumed ultra-processed foods in large quantities had a higher risk of death overall, and mortality from heart disease in particular, relative to people who ate less food in this category.

The second study followed more than 200,000 U.S. health care workers over a span of 24 to 28 years, and found that men who consumed lots of ultra-processed food — more than nine servings per day, on average — had a 29% higher risk of colorectal cancer than men who ate around three daily servings.

Fang Fang Zhang, the second study’s senior author and an associate professor at Tufts University, said the group with the highest consumption of ultra-processed foods probably got around 80% of their daily calories from those items. The U.S. average is around 57%.