A recent study revealed that not all ultra-processed foods are equally unhealthy. Nutrition experts also say the term is too broad and is confusing. How can consumers know which products are still healthy to eat and which it is best to avoid?
To nutrition experts who do not have a single good word to say about ultra-processed foods, the large-scale study published in the scientific journal ‘The Lancet Regional Health - Europe’ in late 2023 must have come as quite a surprise, Flemish scientific monthly and website EOS writes.
This was a prospective cohort study, which had surveyed the medical histories and dietary patterns of more than 266,000 people in seven European countries with data from 1992 to 2000. A prospective cohort study is a type of observational study focused on following a group of people, called a cohort, over a period of time, collecting data on their exposure to a factor of interest.
The international research team found that there does appear to be a significant link between regular consumption of ultra-processed meat products and sugary drinks, on the one hand, and an increased risk of developing one or more life-limiting diseases, on the other.
But it was also discovered that certain types of ultra-processed bread and certain breakfast cereals do not increase health risks and may even help to lower them. The researchers found no direct causal link between these products and lower risk of developing serious diseases.
Assuming that this link would exist, it is presumably related to the fibre content of the bread products and breakfast cereals in question. This content could have a protective effect against certain life-threatening diseases. The result of the study seems to confirm the claim that the term ‘ultra-processed food’ is too broad and can be confusing for consumers.
What is ultra-processed food?
The term ‘ultra-processed food’ refers to any food that has undergone complex industrial processes. Processes that you can't just do at home. Such foods contain more added sugars, salt and saturated fats, but less fibre and other nutrients.
In addition, such products have a higher energy density, i.e. a greater number of calories per gram of food.
In ultra-processed foods, a variety of other substances are also added to improve taste, smell and appearance including colourings, flavour enhancers and non-sugar sweeteners.
The category of ultra-processed foods includes ready-to-eat frozen meals, sugared breakfast cereals, sauces, sweets, soft drinks, chocolate and biscuits.
Source: Flemish Institute for Healthy Living / EOS
Demonisation
Other nutrition experts have also already concluded that not all ultra-processed foods are equally unhealthy. Bruno De Meulenaer (UGent), professor of food chemistry and chemical food safety at Ghent University, for instance, believes there are problems with the definition of the term ‘ultra-processed food’. In his opinion, people are mixing up technology with nutritional aspects.
‘More important than the industrial processing is the amount of the product you can eat before you feel satisfied,’ he suggests. ‘You will more easily drink the juice of 3 oranges than eat 3 oranges, one after the other. So it's also about structure: does it require an effort or not, do you have to bite it or not? Eating a piece of meat is difficult, it requires effort. You have to cut it and chew it. It doesn't bite off as smoothly as a hamburger.’
‘But it is exactly chewing that is very important because the more you chew the quicker you will feel satiated. Whereas a quick bite that you can swallow without much effort won’t satisfy you much. To a large extent, this is because the original structure of the product has been destroyed.’
‘In my opinion, this would be a much better focus when talking about these products. People have forgotten that an essential part of the eating process takes place in the mouth. If you don't have to chew, because the original texture is no longer there, you risk eating a lot more of these products.’
‘One possible solution is to prepare food yourself, even if it takes more time. When you cook, it's best to preserve the texture of a product as much as possible. Then you will see that your calorie intake clearly goes down.’
"Judge food by its composition"
Renger Witkamp (Wageningen UR), professor of food biology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, also objects to the demonisation of ultra-processed foods. ‘I tend to say that you should eat such foods as little as possible. But I don't agree they are solely bad.’
It makes little sense, Witkamp argues, to judge food products by their composition. Some additives to ultra-processed foods actually have benefits.
Take preservatives, which extend shelf life and thus increase food safety. Or emulsifiers, which transform immiscible ingredients – ingredients that don’t form a homogenous mixture when mixed – like fat and water into a homogeneous whole, something that also happens in nature, including in our intestines. ‘The frequency with which you eat foods with too much salt, sugar and saturated fats determines to a greater extent the health risks you run,’ Witkamp concludes.
No country has succeeded in reversing rising obesity rates
On the other hand, the scientists who participated in the study highlight how much damage highly processed foods in general can do as consumption increases worldwide. In some countries, 50 to 60 per cent of daily calories come from these products.
The study's overall conclusion is that higher consumption of ultra-processed foods is directly linked to a greater risk of multiple chronic diseases occurring at the same time, including cancer and cardiometabolic diseases i.e. cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic kidney damage and obesity.
If public health policies remain unchanged, the number of overweight and obese people will increase from 1.33 billion in 2005 to an estimated 3.28 billion by 2030. That is more than a third of the world's projected population. Obesity increases the risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes and several types of cancer.
So far, no country has succeeded in reversing rising obesity rates once this trend has started. And meanwhile, it is hard to deny the fact that obesity worldwide is caused by the ever-increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods, conceived by bioengineers with a view to ensure we consume as much of them as possible and falsely marketed by marketeers as healthy food.
The present article is a translation of an abridged version of an article by Wim Swinnen that appears in this month's Flemish science magazine EOS and the EOS website. If you want to read more in Dutch, click here .