A new study shows that not all plant-based diets are equally good for your heart.
While plant-based eating is often seen as a healthy choice, this research highlights the importance of not just what you eat, but how your food is processed and its overall nutritional value.
The study was conducted by researchers from INRAE, Inserm, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, and Cnam. It was based on health data from 63,835 adults in France who took part in the NutriNet-Santé cohort. These people were followed for an average of 9.1 years, with some tracked for up to 15 years.
Participants reported their diets using online questionnaires, listing everything they ate and drank over several days. This allowed the researchers to divide people into different diet groups. They didn’t just look at how much plant-based or animal-based food people ate.
They also considered the nutritional quality of the food—such as levels of fat, sugar, and salt—as well as how processed the food was.
The results were published in The Lancet Regional Health—Europe.
The findings were clear. People who ate more plant-based foods that were both high in nutritional quality and minimally processed had a much lower risk of cardiovascular disease. In fact, their risk was about 40% lower compared to those who ate more animal-based foods and fewer nutritious plant-based items.
However, plant-based diets that included a lot of ultra-processed foods did not offer the same protection. Even if these foods were made from plants and were somewhat nutritious, the fact that they were heavily processed seemed to cancel out the benefits.
Examples of these include store-bought wholemeal bread, ready-made soups or pasta dishes, and packaged salads with dressings.
Even more concerning, people who ate large amounts of plant-based foods that were both low in nutritional quality and highly processed had a significantly higher risk of heart problems—about 40% higher than those who ate nutritious, minimally processed plant foods.
These unhealthy foods included sugary breakfast cereals, fruit-flavored soft drinks, chocolate snacks, crisps, and other packaged junk foods.
This study sends a strong message: choosing more plant-based foods is not enough if those foods are low in quality and highly processed.
To protect your heart, it’s important to focus on eating plant foods that are fresh, frozen, or canned without added sugar, salt, or unhealthy fats. Think fresh fruits and vegetables, plain legumes, whole grains, and nuts without coatings or flavorings.
The researchers say these findings should be used to guide public health and nutrition policies. They support the idea of encouraging diets rich in unprocessed or minimally processed plant-based foods that also have high nutritional value. It’s not just about being plant-based—it’s about being plant-smart.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about blood thinners that may not prevent stroke in people with heartbeat problems and this diabetes drug may protect heart health in older veterans.
For more about heart health, please read studies about why light-to-moderate drinking is linked to better heart health and reconsidering the long-term use of high blood pressure beta blockers after a heart attack.
The study is published in The Lancet Regional Health—Europe.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
