— so do we need to shift our food policy?

Just weeks after researchers showed a cause-and-effect relationship between ultra-processed food and weight gain, two more studies have linked these foods with disease and death.

Key points:

• Two European studies link ultra-processed food consumption with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death from any cause
• Evidence is mounting that it's the processing, not just the nutrient content, that makes these foods bad for our health
• Australia may need to look at how it labels foods to warn consumers, experts say

The pair of studies, published in the BMJ today, both looked at consumption of ultra-processed food and health outcomes and — perhaps unsurprisingly — it's not good news.

The first, which was based in France, found increasing the proportion of ultra-processed food in the diet by 10 per cent was associated with significantly higher rates of cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease (such as stroke).

The second, based in Spain, found people who consumed more than four servings of ultra-processed food per day were 62 per cent more likely to die of any cause compared to those who had less than two servings per day.

In both studies, large groups of adults completed food intake questionnaires, then their rates of disease were tracked for up to 10 years.

The findings provide further weight to the already sizeable pile of evidence that highly processed food is linked to poorer health, said Mark Lawrence, who co-wrote an editorial on the topic, also published today.