The Problem With Ultra‑Processed Foods (and What to Eat Instead)
- Colleen Woods, MS, RDN, CLC
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
Observing a WIC nutrition class recently, I noticed one family made up of a mother and 3 young children, brought their own food to the cooking demo. The mother had given each child their own large bag of chips or Cheetos and each their own 16 oz. bottle of Gatorade. Assumingly unaware of the health risks these products pose to people, particularly children under five, it was clear our mission to educate on nutrition continues to be important.
While nutrition messaging is getting passed around media outlets, accurate, easy to understand public health warnings about ultra-processed foods may not be reaching everyone. For those who are aware of the importance of eating better, understanding the difference between processed foods and ultra-processed foods is admittedly a challenge.
I’ve been asked to break down the facts about ultra-processed foods. Below you can jump to sections that are important to you, including:
What are Ultra-Processed Foods?
When we think of food, it’s difficult to think of a food that hasn’t been processed in some form. If you grow your own carrots, once you peeled and sliced them, they have undergone processing.
The question, though, is whether processing dilutes the nutritional value of food. Peeling and slicing carrots does not.
So what level of processing becomes a problem for health?
Let’s start with the different levels of processing as classified by Nova, a four-tiered system developed in Brazil.[1]
Nova classification divides foods into four categories of processing:
Level of Processing | Definition | Example Foods |
Group 1 Unprocessed or minimally processed foods | Edible parts or plants, animals, fungi and water are unprocessed |
|
Group 2 Processed Ingredients | Substances obtained directly from Group 1 foods or from nature by industrial processes such as pressing, centrifuging, extracting, refining, dewatering and mining. These processes support the seasoning and cooking of Group 1 foods prepared from scratch. Foods that are processed and have only one other processed ingredient would fit here. |
|
Group 3 Processed Foods | Group 1 + Group 2 Relatively simple industrially manufactured food products made by adding at least one Group 2 ingredient (such as salt, sugar, oil or fat) to Group 1 foods, using preservation methods such as canning and bottling, and, in the case of breads and cheeses, using non-alcoholic fermentation and boiling or baking. Often contain additives that extend the shelf life or prevent bacterial growth, but not additives with cosmetic functions (see next group). |
*= when these products are made exclusively from Group 1 + Group 2 ingredients |
Group 4 Ultra-Processed Foods | Everything else. Contain additives with cosmetic function. Industrially manufactured food products made up of several ingredients including sugar, oils, fats and salt generally in higher amounts than in processed foods and food substances without culinary use (such as high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, modified starches and protein isolates). |
^= contain additives you wouldn’t be able to buy at the grocery store and add in yourself |
This classification does not determine the level of nutrition of a food necessarily. For instance, even though maple syrup is not ultra-processed, it doesn’t mean it’s “good” for you. Similarly, olive oil may be processed, but it has health benefits when consumed in reasonable quantities.
The take away, though, is that you can be sure a whole, unprocessed food is better for you than an ultra-processed food. And new research shows that calorie for calorie, Group 2 and 3 ingredients are safer than Group 4 products.
How Prevalent are Ultra-Processed Foods?
Although UPFs have been around a long time, they became highly marketed and consumed in the 1980s and 90s when tobacco companies started to shift focus and bought companies that could addict people to food. [2]
Today, UPFs account for 60% of adults’ diets and 67% of children’s and teens’ diets, on average, in the US! [3]
Less educated, younger, lower-income white and black populations consume the most UPFs in our country.
Throughout the world, the US, Canada, and Britain top the list for the populations that consume the most. These countries also have the highest BMIs.
A BMI over 30 is considered obese and America, Britain, and Canada all have similar obesity rates, with 28–36% of the population having a BMI over 30.
There are Westernized countries with lower obesity and UPF consumption rates. In Italy, for example, the obesity rate is 19.9%, and the percent of calories that come from UPFs is only 17.9%. Additionally, French populations get around 31.1% of their calories from ultra-processed foods and the obesity rate sits at around 21%, demonstrating the correlation between obesity and UPFs.[4],[5]
How Bad are Ultra-Processed Foods?
Studies[6] on UPFs have linked eating them to:
Several small studies have also shown that UPFs are associated with stimulating reward systems in the brain and increasing the intake of more calories.[25],[26]
Many UPFs are made of a mix of ingredients and additives called “slurries.” (See Business Insider's video below) Corn, wheat, or potato are processed down to the molecular level equivalent of pre-digested food. (Think chewing the food, swallowing it, digesting it, then regurgitating it back up.)
Then additives like emulsifiers, food coloring, spices, and preservatives are added.
Many UPFs are made of the same basic slurry- whether it’s your favorite cheesy snack or sandwich cookie. The slurry is molded and baked into a specific shape and undergoes different flavorings based on what the end product is supposed to taste like.
Alternatively, the slurry could be used to make paper products, carboard boxes, pet food, or pharmaceuticals, as a video from Starch Europe shows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsKsrCGfxLY
Because these slurries strip out fiber and nutrients, and resemble a pre-digested state, they are able to bypass the body’s fullness signals. The gut doesn’t know it’s taken in as many calories as it has and like a pinball machine, the brain’s reward signals are firing after every bite, craving more. It sets a person up to overeat.[27]
What’s worse is that the calories aren’t even offering any nutritional value. In fact, instead of feeding the cells vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein, they are actually harming cells through cholesterol and plaque build-up, exhausting the endocrine system with erratic secretion of insulin followed by sharp drops in blood sugar, changing the gut microbiota, and increasing the size of fat cells that can never return to normal size.
UPFs are also a burden on the environment, as the farming and livestock production is unsustainable.
How do I know if a food is ultraprocessed?
Watch out for these ingredients
To identify an ultra-processed food, turn the package around and look at the ingredients. If you see any of the following, the food is a UPF:
Gums (xantham, guar)
Modified starches (maltodextrin)
Emulsifiers (carrageenan)
Artificial sweeteners (Stevia, Splenda, xylitol, erythritol, high fructose corn syrup)
Preservatives (nitrates, nitrites)
Dyes (Red dye #..., Yellow dye #..., etc.)
Artificial flavors (diacetyl)
You’d also want to stay away from foods that contain certain fats like:
Palm oil
Trans fat
Partially hydrogenated oils and margarine
These ingredients are ok:
Although there could be ingredients you don’t recognize, it doesn’t mean it’s a UPF. For instance, vitamins may be added under the names:
Ascorbate or ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
Alpha tocopherol (vitamin E)
Thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine (all B vitamins)
Foods with vitamins added are ok and don’t need to be avoided based on that addition alone.
Soy lecithin is also a safe emulsifier with health benefits, unless you have a severe soy allergy.
Snacks that aren’t Ultra-Processed Foods
The best food choices for ourselves and our children is whole food, meaning more fruits and vegetables, more lean proteins, and more nuts and seeds.
However, many consumers ultimately want to how to save time and eat prepared food, without relying on UPFs.
Below are a list of ready-to-eat foods that as of publication date, are not UPFs and would be better choices.
Caution: The list below does not suggest these foods are nutritious, just that they are not ultra-processed. Many contain moderate levels of sugar, saturated fat or sodium.
At the time of publication, these products were not ultra-processed:
Breakfast Foods
Nature’s Path cereal, oatmeal, granola, waffles
Alter Eco granola
Mush Overnight Oats
Dinner Foods
Salad kits- make your own salad dressing or use olive oil & vinegar
Capello’s pizzas
Against the Grain pizzas
Amy’s Organic soups
Toddler Foods
Love Child Oaty Chomps
Love Child Superblends pouches
Once Upon a Farm products
Skout kids' bars
Cookies & Bars
Larabars
88 Acres granola bars
Simple Mills cookies, bars
Clean Dough (cookie dough)
Skout cookies, protein bars
Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies (not Soft Baked- they contain palm oil)
Siete cookies
Hu cookies
Chocolate
Alter Eco chocolate
Hu chocolate bars and bites
Salty Snacks
Late July Organic Tortilla Chips such as Sea Salt & Lime, Sea Salt, Garlic Herb, Chia & Quinoa, Blue Corn (flavored varieties like Nacho Cheese, Garden Ranch, and Mexican Street Corn contain corn maltodextrin)
Late July salsas
Popcorn kernels (that you pop yourself)
Siete chips
Simple Mills crackers
For more guidance on how to help you or your family reduce ultra-processed foods in your diet, make a virtual appointment with me at: https://www.zestnutritionservice.com/services
References
[2] Baraldi, L. G., Steele, E. M., Canella, D. S., & Monteiro, C. A. (2018). Consumption of ultra-processed foods and associated sociodemographic factors in the USA between 2007 and 2012: evidence from a nationally representative cross-sectional study. BMJ open, 8(3), e020574 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020574
[3] Wang L, Martínez Steele E, Du M, et al. Trends in Consumption of Ultraprocessed Foods Among US Youths Aged 2-19 Years, 1999-2018. JAMA. 2021;326(6):519–530. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.10238 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2782866
[4] https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/the-overconsumption-of-ultra-processed-foods-in-the-united-states
[6] Monteiro, C. A., & Cannon, G. (2022). The trouble with ultra-processed foods. bmj, 378. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1972
[11] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/consumption-of-ultraprocessed-foods-and-body-fat-during-childhood-and-adolescence-a-systematic-review/49F56538F32B05C3526E1C5523910A9A
[18] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/ultraprocessed-food-consumption-and-excess-weight-among-us-adults/5D2D713B3A85F5C94B0C98A1F224D04A
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