Pizza from the freezer, crisps and donuts... All of us buy and eat these foods from time to time, but scientists have now issued a clear warning against these kinds of ultra-processed foods. Not only are they unhealthy, but new research also shows that all that tasty and greasy industrial food is as addictive as tobacco is for smokers.
Yes, sometimes it has to go fast and then a ready meal like a frozen pizza is very attractive. According to the experts, 80 per cent of foodstuffs in supermarkets now consist of ultra-processed food. Michaël Sels is chief dietician at University Hospital Antwerp and explains what ultra processed foods are.
"Take a tomato, it's unprocessed if you buy it from a farmer or in the supermarket. But you can start doing a number of manipulations with that tomato. You can start drying it. It then becomes a slightly processed tomato. If you turn it into a tapenade, you immediately add a whole number of ingredients to it: oil, fat, salt, etc. One step further and it becomes ultra-processed food like tomato ketchup. Colourings, preservatives and flavour enhancers are then added."
Symptoms of addiction
A new edition of the journal British Medical Journal now features a remarkable study on ultra-processed foods. Scientists analysed 281 previous studies emanating from 36 countries. All that information was weighed against the Yale Food Addiction Scale, which is a standardised questionnaire designed in 2009 to properly assess signs of compulsive eating. It showed that as many as 14 per cent of adults and 12 per cent of children scored high on addiction symptoms to ultra-processed food.
The study says ultra-processed foods are potentially as addictive as smoking. "Ultra-processed foods contain a combination of a number of substances that make them so appealing," Sels explains. "Sugars, carbohydrates and fat are things we are programmed to really like. They release dopamine in our brain and that makes us very happy when we eat it, but we get a dip afterwards. We then go in search of another shot of dopamine and again choose ultra-processed foods. Time and time again, it's going to be more tempting to buy these products."
Supermarket safari
Completely eliminating all carbohydrates or fats from your diet is not immediately necessary. Have homemade pizzas or pancakes instead of the ultra-processed version from the supermarket. For instance, you can opt for unrefined sugar or vegetable fats. These are a better alternative.
"You need to go on a supermarket safari," says Sels. "You need to put products that make the healthiest choice the easiest one in your trolley. But then you have to be able to interpret labels. We notice these are still difficult for a lot of people to understand. But the ingredient list can already tell you a lot. Ingredients are ranked from what contains the most to what contains the least. For instance, if you buy a jar of hummus and the first ingredient is not chickpeas, you might be buying some kind of flavoured mayonnaise. That means you have probably put a highly processed product into your trolley. On your supermarket safari, try to take a first step towards healthier eating."