Not All Ultra-Processed Foods Are Bad — New Science Explains Why

The Exam Room by the Physicians Committee

Physicians Committee

Nutrition, Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are all ultra-processed foods bad for your health? New science says no — and the details may surprise you.

In this episode of The Exam Room Podcast, host Chuck Carroll is joined by Dr. Hana Kahleova, director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, to break down a comprehensive review of more than 300 studies examining ultra-processed foods, diabetes, heart disease, and mortality.

The findings challenge common assumptions and reveal that not all processed foods impact health the same way.

In this episode, you'll learn:

- Which ultra-processed foods are most strongly linked to diabetes and heart disease
- Why meat and processed meat are the primary drivers of harm
- How some breads, cereals, and plant-based processed foods may actually be protective
- The role fiber plays in processed foods and metabolic health
- Why current dietary guidelines may be oversimplifying processed foods

📄 Download the full review paper: https://bit.ly/ProcessedFoodsReview

💙 When you support the Physicians Committee, you help power this podcast and the research behind it. Visit https://www.pcrm.org/examroommatch

❤️ Follow Chuck's journey back to health at the Mayo Clinic: https://www.chuckcarroll.com

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- About Us -
The Physicians Committee is dedicated to saving lives through plant-based diets and ethical and effective scientific research. We combine the clout and expertise of more than 17,000 physicians with the dedicated actions of more than 175,000 members across the United States and around the world.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today, on the exam room.
0:04.0	What surprised you personally, Dr. Kali, over the most about which ultra-processed foods were actually linked to a lower risk of disease?
0:13.0	What I found fascinating was the vast difference between the food groups.
0:18.0	You see meat and all the animal products driving the association between processed
0:24.9	foods and diabetes. And now you see the protective foods and you're like, which ones are they?
0:30.9	Breads and cereals? What? I mean, if somebody is diagnosed with diabetes, the number one advice
0:37.4	they will get, oh, you need to eat less carbs, eat less bread and eat less rice and eat less potatoes.
0:44.8	That's the number one advice.
0:46.4	And these foods are the most beneficial.
0:54.1	Welcome to the Exam Room podcast, brought you by the Physicians Committee. Hi, I'm Chuck Carroll,
0:59.3	raising health IQs coast to coast and around the world. Hi to the exam room is listening in
1:04.4	Worcester, Massachusetts, Boise, Idaho, and Lisbon, Portugal. Wherever you are, we appreciate you
1:10.8	helping to make the world
1:11.7	a healthier place. This is episode 8 of season 9, number 707 overall. And today we are taking
1:18.8	on one of the most confusing and controversial topics in nutrition again, because we just
1:25.1	can't seem to stop talking about ultra processed foods.
1:29.8	Are they all bad for you?
1:31.0	Or have we been lumping very different foods into the same category?
1:34.9	Well, we have brand new research that gives us a definitive answer.
1:40.2	Hot off of the presses.
1:42.0	I'm telling you that my guest today has science that tells a very different
1:47.0	story than what you might be hearing in the media. She is the director of clinical research here
	...

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