How ultra-processed foods and overall diet quality affect heart and metabolic health
Ultra-processed Foods, Diet Quality, and Cardiometabolic Health: An Inter-disciplinary Trans-Atlantic Collaborative Project
This project compares diets higher or lower in ultra-processed foods and healthier plant-based diets to see how they change weight, metabolism, and heart-disease markers in adults.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Harvard University D/b/a Harvard School of Public Health NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11048699 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you take part, researchers will provide meals in controlled feeding trials that change how much ultra-processed food and how much healthy plant-based food you eat using a healthy plant-based diet index (hPDI). In a 6-week trial they'll look for changes in small molecules in your blood (a metabolomic signature) linked to better diet quality, and in a 4-month trial they'll compare metabolic and heart-health effects of the different diets. They will collect blood samples, weight measurements, inflammation markers like C-reactive protein, and other biomarkers to track changes. The work aims to find out whether harms tied to ultra-processed foods come from the processing itself or from lower overall diet quality.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Adults concerned about body weight, blood sugar, cholesterol, or heart-disease risk who can follow provided diets and attend study visits would be ideal candidates.
Not a fit: Children, pregnant people, or those with unrelated acute illnesses or rare metabolic disorders may not benefit or be eligible.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could give clearer guidance about which ultra-processed foods to avoid and which dietary changes most lower weight and heart-disease risk.
How similar studies have performed: Large observational studies link ultra-processed foods to worse outcomes and one controlled feeding trial found UPF-rich diets caused higher calorie intake and weight gain, but the interaction with overall diet quality remains untested.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Harvard University D/b/a Harvard School of Public Health — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sun, Qi — Harvard University D/b/a Harvard School of Public Health
- Study coordinator: Sun, Qi
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.