Ultra-processed foods: why are you hearing so much about them these days?
In a study released this past week, researchers emphasized, yet again, how bad the Standard American Diet is, it’s no wonder is referred to as the SAD. Consumption of calories from ultra-processed foods (UPF) has increased compared to past years, with more than half of all calories consumed coming from UPFs. The data shows that Americans increased their intake of UPFs by 3.5%; approximately 37% are eaten at home, and another 19% are consumed when eating out. The eating-out percentage remained flat from previous years, meaning the increase in UPF consumption came from what we stock in our refrigerators and pantries.
This increase is not great news for our overall health for many reasons we’ll touch on shortly, but if you’re like us when we first started hearing about UPFs, you might be a bit confused about what a UPF is and how to spot one.
The Nova Classification System
Researchers in San Paulo, Brazil, were tackling the same problem, and in 2009, they introduced the Nova classification system as a method of classifying just how processed various processed foods are.
They put foods into four classifications:
- Unprocessed or minimally processed foods – raw foods or foods that undergo minimal processing through removal of unwanted parts, crushing, drying, fractioning, grinding, pasteurization, non-alcoholic fermentation, freezing, and other preservation methods. No additives are used.
- Processed culinary ingredients – Processed culinary ingredients are derived from group 1 foods or from nature by pressing, refining, grinding, milling, and drying. It also includes substances extracted from nature, like maple syrup. These ingredients are primarily used in seasoning, cooking group 1 food, and preparing dishes from scratch.
- Processed foods – Processed foods are relatively simple products made using culinary ingredients (group 2 substances) such as salt or sugar that are combined with unprocessed (group 1) foods.
- Ultra-processed foods – Industrially manufactured food products made up of several ingredients (formulations) including sugar, oils, fats and salt (generally in combination and in higher amounts than in processed foods) and combined with other food substances that either have no other, or very rare, culinary use.
How Do I Tell Group 4 from Group 3?
You’re trying to eat better and find yourself reading lots of ingredient labels, but perhaps some of what’s on those labels makes you think you need a degree in food sciences to understand what you’re about to eat. That confusion is a great indicator that you are eating a UPF. If you read the ingredient label and you can’t find the ingredient in your kitchen or easily acquire it at your local grocery store, there’s a super high probability it’s an ultra-processed ingredient, and you should pass.
Example plain frozen broccoli vs frozen broccoli with cheese sauce
Contrast that ingredient label to making it from scratch:
Cheese Sauce for Broccoli and Cauliflower
There aren’t random ingredients hiding in a block of cheddar cheese that would account for the difference in the ingredients list. (blocks of cheese are group 3)
So What’s the Big Deal?
Several studies have examined the health impacts of consuming a diet high in UPFs. A comprehensive review published in JAMA found 32 problematic health conditions linked to UPFs. Some of them include obesity, wheezing, poor sleep, cardiovascular conditions, colorectal cancer, and metabolic syndromes.
It’s unrealistic to think we’ll all return to the days of making our pasta and bread daily from scratch. Between work, sleep, and other life commitments it’s just not realistic. So, how do you go about avoiding the worst of the worst?
- Look for ‘Simply’ versions of products that are unrealistic to make at home. Their shelf-life might be shorter, but the trade-off is worth it.
Example of Simply Ketchup vs Traditional Ketchup
- Batch cook on your free days to avoid convenience foods on the nights you know are going to be busy. We aim for Sundays and Wednesdays based on our schedules.
- Identify your UPFs and eat them occasionally as a treat, not as everyday items. Looking at you, Oreos and Doritos.
What to do?
Being realistic is the key to success. We don’t grow all of our own food, and our work/home/family/social schedules just don’t allow cooking from scratch three times a day, seven days a week. But by making informed choices about the degree of processed foods we consume and by embracing a less-is-more approach to the amount and frequency of UPFs we indulge in (again with the Oreos & Doritos), you’ll suddenly find yourself going from trying to eat better to simply eating better.
