Researcher Contact
Benjamin Allès
Clémentine Prioux
Centre de recherche en épidémiologie et statistiques
Département scientifique Alimentation humaine (ALIM-H)
Centre INRAE Ȋle-de-France-Jouy-en-Josas-Antony
© Photo Jannis Brandt/ Unsplash
Consumption of plant-based products is associated with better cardiovascular health, provided they are of good nutritional quality and not or minimally processed. This is the finding of a research team from INRAE, Inserm, Sorbonne Paris Nord University and Cnam, based on analysis of health data from a cohort of 63,835 adults. The results are published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
Previous studies have reported that a high consumption of so-called ultra-processed foods[1] is associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, while other studies[2] have shown that a diet including a high proportion of plant products, when nutritionally balanced, reduces the risk of developing these diseases.
To study the links between nutrition and cardiovascular health, a research team from INRAE, Inserm, Sorbonne Paris Nord University and Cnam went beyond the distinction between a food’s plant or animal origin, by integrating nutritional quality, such as carbohydrate, lipid or antioxidant vitamin and mineral content, as well as the degree of food processing.
The research team analyzed health data from 63,835 adults participating in the French NutriNet-Santé cohort. The average follow-up period was 9.1 years, and up to 15 years for the first participants. Dietary intakes, i.e. foods and beverages consumed over at least 3 days, were collected using online questionnaires.
Nutritional quality and degree of processing
It has been shown that adults with a diet richer in plant products of higher nutritional quality (lower in fat, sugar and salt) and with little or no industrial processing, had a 40% lower risk of cardiovascular disease than those with a diet lower in plant products and richer in animal products[3].
Adults who ate a diet richer in vegetable products of higher nutritional quality, but ultra-processed such as industrial wholemeal breads, commercial soups, pasta-based ready meals or commercially seasoned salads (compared to people who ate a diet lower in these products and richer in animal products), did not have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
The risk of cardiovascular disease was around 40% higher for adults who consumed a high proportion of low-nutritional-quality, ultra-processed plant products (potato potato chips, sweetened fruit drinks or plant extract sodas, sweetened chocolate products or confectionery, sweetened breakfast cereals, salted cookies, etc.) than for people with a diet richer in plant products of good nutritional quality and little or no industrial processing.
These results underline the need to consider both nutritional quality and the degree of processing and formulation of foods, in addition to the plant-animal balance in the diet, to better assess the links between nutrition and cardiovascular health. They provide new arguments to encourage public health and nutrition policies to promote plant-based foods that are both of good nutritional quality and little or unprocessed (good-quality fresh, frozen or canned fruit and vegetables, for example, with no added fat, salt, sugar or additives).
The NutriNet-Santé study is a public health study coordinated by the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (CRESS-EREN, Inserm/INRAE/Cnam/Université Sorbonne Paris Nord/Université Paris Cité), which, thanks to the commitment and loyalty of over 180,000 “nutrinauts”, is advancing research into the links between nutrition (diet, physical activity, nutritional status) and health. Launched in 2009, the study has already resulted in over 300 international scientific publications. A call for new nutrinauts is still underway, to continue advancing public research into the relationship between nutrition and health.
By spending a few minutes a month on the secure etude-nutrinet-sante.fr Internet platform, answering various questionnaires relating to diet, physical activity and health, participants contribute to advancing knowledge towards a healthier, more sustainable diet.
[1] According to the NOVA classification, these are foods that have undergone significant biological, chemical or physical processing (extrusion, pre-treatment by frying, hydrolysis, heating to very high temperatures, etc.) and/or whose formulation contains certain food additives not necessary for the safety of the product (colorants, emulsifiers, sweeteners, for example) or certain industrial substances such as hydrogenated oils, glucose/fructose syrup, hydrolyzed proteins, invert sugar, etc.
[2] Rauber F., da Costa Louzada M.L., Chang C. et al. (2024). Implications of food ultra-processing on cardiovascular risk considering plant origin foods: an analysis of the UK biobank cohort. The Lancet Regional Health-Europe, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2024.100948
Daas M.C., Vellinga R.E., Pinho M.G.M. et al. (2024). The role of ultra-processed foods in plant-based diets: associations with human health and environmental sustainability. European Journal of Nutrition. DOI :https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-024-03477-w
[3]This means consuming around 280g of fruit and vegetables a day, i.e. half the PNNS (Programme national nutrition santé) recommendation, 54.1g a day on average of red meat, i.e. 380g a week, and 278g a week of charcuterie, i.e. almost twice the maximum PNNS recommendation.
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Cardiovascular disease risk and the balance between animal-based and plant-based foods, nutritional quality, and food processing level in the French NutriNet-Santé cohort: a longitudinal observational study.
Prioux C., Kesse-Guyot E., Srour B., Fézeu L.K., Baudry J., Wagner S., Hercberg S., Touvier and Allès B. (2025).
The Lancet Regional Health – Europe