Heart Surgeon Warns Ultra-Processed Foods Are Worse Than Smoking and Shortening Lives

Ultra-processed foods worse than smoking might sound like an exaggeration, but a respected heart surgeon insists it’s closer to the truth than most people realize. After more than 25 years of treating cardiovascular patients, and after living through his own heart attack, Dr Jeremy London is urging people to take a hard look at what’s sitting in their kitchen cupboards.

A Personal Wake-Up Call

Dr London is no stranger to heart issues. Back in 2022, he suffered a heart attack himself, an experience that hit even harder because he had been ignoring the warning signs for some time. As someone who spends his days advising others on cardiovascular health, the irony wasn’t lost on him.

That brush with mortality made him double down on educating the public, and he now uses social media to share what he believes are the biggest threats to heart health today. Sitting right at the top of that list? Ultra-processed foods.

What Exactly Are Ultra-Processed Foods?

Most of us eat them without thinking twice. Ultra-processed foods are the kind of items that line supermarket shelves with bright packaging and long ingredient lists you can barely pronounce.

Common examples include:

• Mass-produced bread
• Sugary fizzy drinks
• Pre-packaged snacks and biscuits
• Fast food meals
• Ready-to-eat frozen dinners
• Protein bars loaded with additives

According to Dr London, these are industrial creations rather than real food. He describes them as products built almost entirely from ingredients designed for factory use. As he puts it, your grandmother would never have stocked these in her pantry.

The Hidden Ingredients Doing the Damage

The problem isn’t just what’s missing from these foods, it’s what’s added to them. Dr London points to a long list of substances that show up repeatedly on labels, including high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, modified starches, artificial colours, synthetic flavours, and emulsifiers.

These ingredients exist for one reason: to make food taste irresistible, last longer on shelves, and turn a bigger profit. The result is products engineered for convenience and addiction rather than nourishment.

The Shocking Link to Early Death

Dr London cites research that paints a sobering picture. For every 10 percent increase in ultra-processed food consumption, there is a corresponding 10 percent rise in the risk of early death.

His blunt summary captures it well: the longer the shelf life of your food, the shorter your own life may become.

Beyond mortality, these foods are linked to a chain of metabolic problems. They disrupt how the body handles sugar, drive up hemoglobin A1C levels, and push triglycerides higher. They also fuel inflammation throughout the body and throw the gut microbiome out of balance, which scientists increasingly recognize as a foundation of overall health.

Why Some Experts Compare It to Smoking

This isn’t the first time ultra-processed foods have been put in the same category as cigarettes. On the Diary of a CEO podcast back in 2023, the topic came up in detail. The conversation included a striking suggestion that obesity driven by these foods should perhaps be treated the way doctors approach smoking addiction, complete with structured support and nicotine-style intervention strategies.

The reasoning is simple. Ultra-processed foods are designed to override your body’s natural fullness signals, much the way nicotine hooks the brain. Treating them as addictive substances, rather than ordinary meals, may help millions of people break free from cycles of overeating.

A Practical Tip That Changes How You See Food

Rather than telling people to swear off these foods completely, the suggestion shared on the podcast takes a different angle. Try eating them while reading the ingredient list out loud.

Once you start paying attention, something shifts. You begin to notice how nearly every ultra-processed product tastes the same in subtle ways. The same salty-sweet pull. The same acidic note. The same engineered mouthfeel. Over time, that awareness can turn craving into mild disgust, naturally weakening the hold these foods have on you.

The Bigger Health Picture

Evidence connecting ultra-processed foods to poor health has been piling up for over a decade. The damage goes well beyond weight gain. We’re talking about higher rates of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, strokes, and premature death.

It’s not just an issue of calories or portion sizes. It’s about what these foods do to the body at a chemical level once they’re inside it.

What to Eat Instead

Switching to a healthier pattern doesn’t have to feel like punishment. Victoria Taylor, a senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, recommends adopting a Mediterranean-style approach to eating. This means filling your plate with foods that are either minimally processed or not processed at all.

Some staples of this style include:

• Fresh fruit and vegetables
• Oily fish such as salmon and sardines
• Nuts and seeds
• Beans and lentils
• Whole grains like oats, brown rice, and barley
• Olive oil as the main fat source

Combined with regular movement and steering clear of smoking, this kind of diet has consistently shown benefits for heart and circulatory health.

Final Thoughts

The message from Dr London is hard to ignore. Ultra-processed foods aren’t simply unhealthy snacks to enjoy in moderation. They’re industrial products with serious consequences for the heart, the gut, and even how long we live. While giving them up entirely may feel daunting, awareness is the first step. Read the labels, notice the patterns, and slowly bring more real food back to your plate. Your heart, and your future, will thank you.