Eating mostly plants can lower cardiovascular disease risk by about 40 percent, or raise it by roughly the same amount. That is the split found in a French cohort of 63,835 adults published in October 2025 in The Lancet Regional Health Europe, led by researchers from Inserm, INRAE, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord and Cnam.
The deciding factor is how processed the plant food on your plate actually is. Whole and minimally processed plant foods, such as fresh, frozen or quality canned fruits and vegetables without added fat, salt or sugar, alongside legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, sit at the protective end.
Ultra-processed plant foods, including potato chips, sweetened fruit drinks and plant-based sodas, chocolate confectionery, sugary breakfast cereals and salted cookies, sit at the harmful end.
Where the 40 percent numbers come from
The Nutrinet-Santé analysis followed participants for an average of 9.1 years, with up to 15 years of tracking for the earliest enrollees. Adults whose diets leaned on nutritious, minimally processed plant foods and less on animal products showed roughly a 40 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared with those who ate fewer plants.
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The reverse pattern appeared for those who leaned heavily on low-quality ultra-processed plant products. Their cardiovascular risk was about 40 percent higher than in adults eating mostly whole, unprocessed plant foods, according to the research team at INRAE.
One nuance sits between those extremes. Plant foods that are nutritionally decent but still ultra-processed, such as industrial whole-grain breads, store-bought soups and ready-made pasta dishes, showed no cardiovascular benefit over animal-based alternatives.
Why the plant label alone is not enough
The finding lines up with the American Heart Association's 2026 dietary guidance, published on March 31, 2026 in Circulation. The scientific statement lists nine features of a heart-healthy eating pattern and explicitly asks readers to choose minimally processed foods over ultra-processed ones, alongside vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.
Alice H. Lichtenstein, senior scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and chair of the writing committee, said the science behind the guidance has strengthened since the last update in 2021. Vice-chair Amit Khera, director of preventive cardiology at UT Southwestern, said, "As much as 80% of heart disease and stroke is preventable."
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The message from both the study and the guidance is that a food's origin matters less than what industrial processing has done to it. A plant-based frozen dinner with a long ingredient list is not the same food as a bowl of lentils.
That echoes earlier reporting on why the AHA emphasizes eating patterns over single foods.
Reading a plant-based label at the store
Because the study measured habits over years and not a single meal, the useful takeaway is a long-run pattern. Choosing whole grains over refined ones, cooking with beans, lentils and vegetables, and treating plant-based burgers, sausages and sweetened plant milks as occasional foods rather than staples fits both sets of findings.
The observational design means the study can show links, not prove cause. Anyone with a heart-disease diagnosis or risk factors should talk to a doctor before making large dietary changes. The AHA's 2026 statement is a free, publicly available update to its 2021 guidance.
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This article is made and published by Jesper Bengtson, who may have used AI in the preparation.