Experts have raised the alarm today about a worrying increase in fatal cases of heart failure.
Data shows that deaths from this condition — where the heart doesn't pump blood properly — have nearly tripled in the US over the past 50 years.
While deaths from heart disease overall, including strokes, have fallen by two-thirds over the same time period, deaths from chronic heart disease such as heart failure now account for almost half of total cases.
For comparison, half a century ago this figure was only nine percent.
Researchers today suggested that important public health measures — including encouraging more physical activity, stopping smoking and improving heart health screenings — may have contributed to the overall decline.
But obesity and poor nutrition may also be partly to blame, particularly for the rise in cases among young adults under the age of 50.
This comes after research this year has consistently suggested that fatty, sugary and additive-laden foods such as chips and sweets can increase the risk of life-threatening heart problems.
In response, experts have even called for ultra-processed foods (UPFs) to be removed from the diet.
Dr. Sara King, a heart health expert at Stanford University and lead author of the study, said:
“This shift in the types of heart disease from which people are dying the most was very interesting. This evolution over the past 50 years reflects the extraordinary successes in treating heart attacks and other ischemic heart diseases. But the significant increase in deaths from other forms of heart disease, including heart failure and arrhythmias, presents new challenges that the medical community must address.”
Symptoms of this incurable condition, heart failure, include extreme shortness of breath and life-destructive fatigue, and only half of patients live more than five years after diagnosis.
It can be caused by heart attack, blocked arteries, and genetics, but obesity is believed to be one of the most important causes in almost all cases.
It is thought that fat deposits that collect around internal organs release inflammatory compounds that damage the heart.
Other studies have shown that deaths from heart failure have increased most rapidly among adults under 45 and those aged 45 to 64.
In the study, scientists analyzed death rates from heart disease among adults over 25 in the US between 1970 and 2022.
According to the Journal of the American Heart Association, they found that the percentage of those who died from heart attacks fell by 89 percent during this period.
In 1970, this condition accounted for 54 percent of all deaths from heart disease. By 2022, that figure had dropped to 29 percent.
But deaths from heart failure, arrhythmia, and hypertensive heart disease increased by 146, 106, and 450 percent, respectively.
They accounted for 47 percent of all deaths from heart disease in 2022.
Deaths due to high blood pressure also increased by 106 percent.
Factors such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and poor dietary choices — which have increased significantly in the last 50 years — may have contributed to this increase, according to researchers.
Professor Latha Palaniappan, an expert in epidemiology and population health at Stanford University and co-author of the study, said:
“All of these risk factors contribute to a continuing burden of heart disease, especially those related to heart failure, hypertensive disease, and arrhythmias. While deaths from heart attacks have decreased by 90 percent since 1970, heart disease has not gone away. Now that people are surviving heart attacks, we are seeing an increase in other forms of heart disease, such as heart failure. The focus now needs to be on helping people age with strong, healthy hearts by preventing events — and prevention can start in childhood.”
This comes as new research last month found that just an extra 100g a day of UHT consumption — roughly two packets of crisps — increases the risk of serious heart problems.
In the study, researchers analyzed 41 studies from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania, with a total of 8,286,940 adults.
They found that every additional 100g per day of UPF consumption was associated with a 5.9 percent increase in the risk of cardiovascular events.
The findings, presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Asia 2025 conference in Singapore, also showed that adults had a 14.5 percent higher risk of high blood pressure.
Last year, in the largest analysis to date of 10 million people, scientists also found that those who consumed the most UPF had a 40 to 66 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease.
In an accompanying editorial, academics from São Paulo, Brazil said:
“Overall, the authors found that diets high in ultra-processed foods may be harmful to most — perhaps all — body systems.”
The term "UPF" covers anything edible that contains colorings, sweeteners, and preservatives that extend shelf life.
Ready meals, ice cream, and tomato ketchup are some of the most beloved examples of products that fall into this category.
These are now synonymous with foods that offer little or no nutritional value.
They are distinguished from processed foods, which have been altered to extend shelf life or improve taste, such as cured meats, cheese, and fresh bread.
The United Kingdom is the worst country in Europe for consuming PUFs, which make up about 57 percent of the national diet. /GazetaExpress/
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