What does this processesing entail. And why is it so dangerous? Can’t it just be processed a bit less? Or is it something that keeps down the costs somehow?
Overly processed foods include prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza and ready-to-eat meals, as well as hot dogs, sausages, french fries, sodas, store-bought cookies, cakes, candies, doughnuts, ice cream and many more.
“Ultra-processed foods are produced with industrially derived ingredients and often use food additives to adjust colour, flavour, consistency, texture, or extend shelf life,” said first author Dr. Kiara Chang, a National Institute for Health and Care Research fellow at Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, in a statement.
Source:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/health/ultraprocessed-foods-cancer-wellness/index.html
I think it basically means, “High-calorie foods that contain lots of fat, sugar, and/or salt, and have little nutritional value.”
From @Turek’s link: I am curious to know what “industrially derived ingredients” are, it seems a description designed to frighten people rather than to be informative. Also, is there a difference between “overly processed foods” and “ultra-processed foods?” Finally, I hope it’s clear that not every instance of sausages or ice cream (to pick two) is overly-processed.
Anyway, there are at least two kinds of “bad for you” going on here. Nutritionally unsound (as @Crafter_Man noted) is one of them, and serious enough all by itself. Causing cancer is a different sort of thing (in my opinion, sorry nothing to back it up) and it seems more likely that it would be caused by some chemical additives rather than too much fat, salt, etc.
I think this quote from the article is salutary, considering that the article is quoting one study that may not have been scientifically complete:
it may not be an effect specifically of the ultra-processed foods themselves, but instead reflect the impact of a lower intake of healthier food,” said Mellor
To speak to OP’s question, I don’t think it’s a question of amount of processing, as in how many minutes in the mixer. So sure, a company can produce food that is not ultra-processed, by balancing taste with nutrition, and avoiding additives where possible. They might not do well competing with Ho-Ho’s and Doritos, but they could try.
I think it’s a catch-all term meant to indicate that foods in those categories are nutritionally worse than “less processed” ones.
But the devil is in the details, not in the processing itself. For example, something like a Little Debbie brownie has palm oils and other unhealthy fats in it that a scratch-baked brownie wouldn’t have. Or that sausages/hot dogs have a lot of fat, salt and nitrites that a regular cut of meat wouldn’t have.
Those are two different things though; one is an ingredient not typically used at home, and the otheris just an inherent property of a sausage. In neither case, is it something with the “processing” that’s the issue. Same thing with candies; I highly doubt that if I go make toffee in my kitchen, that it’s substantially more or less healthy than commercially made toffee. Both are high fat, high sugar.
Same thing with french fries- Ore-Ida fries aren’t going to be any better or worse than firing up the fryer and making my own fries. Or potato chips. Or tortilla chips.
From today’s CNN article to on the same subject
Overly processed foods include prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza and ready-to-eat meals, as well as hot dogs, sausages, french fries, sodas, store-bought cookies, cakes, candies, doughnuts, ice cream and many more.
“Ultra-processed foods are produced with industrially derived ingredients and often use food additives to adjust colour, flavour, consistency, texture, or extend shelf life,” said first author Dr. Kiara Chang, a National Institute for Health and Care Research fellow at Imperial College London’s School of Public Health, in a statement.
In this context it could just mean lack of fiber, although I think that’s principally a risk factor for colon cancer.
Here is the classification system used by the study.
https://educhange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NOVA-Classification-Reference-Sheet.pdf
GROUP 4: ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS
Ultra-processed foods are industrial formulations made entirely or mostly from substances extracted from foods (oils, fats, sugar, starch, and proteins), derived from food constituents (hydrogenated fats and modified starch), or synthesized in laboratories from food substrates or other organic sources (flavor enhancers, colors, and several food additives used to make the product hyper-palatable). Manufacturing techniques include extrusion, moulding and preprocessing by frying. Beverages may be ultra-processed. Group 1 foods are a small proportion of, or are even absent from, ultra-processed products.
never mind
Yup, it’s difficult to do rigorous studies on human nutrition, because you cannot strictly control people’s diets as you can with an experimental model. The best you usually get is associations that can be hard to interpret. I think studies are often over-interpreted and over-hyped by the press and vested interests.
Michael Pollan’s sardonic description of the sum total of human knowledge on nutrition was “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” By “eat food” he did mean just this - eat recognizable food, avoid highly processed food-like substances. I do think there’s solid evidence behind the association, even if we don’t know the exact cause.
Looking at that NOVA classification guide, you have:
-Whole & minimally processed foods (group 1),
-Edible ingredients extracted from either group 1 or from elsewhere (group 2)
-“Processed foods” (group 3) which are group 1 base ingredients preserved or flavored with group 2, and
-“Ultra-processed foods” (group 4) which are combinations of other groups but mostly consisting of group 2.
So it seems like you could start with say fresh Sardines and ripe Canola seeds, both are group 1 foods. Process the canola seeds to get their oil, and distill sea water to get salt; you’ve turned some natural products/foods in group 2. Apply the salt and oil (group 2) to the fish (group 1), and now you’ve got canned (processed) sardines (group 3).
Not all ultra processed foods are modern. You could also take the oil and salt (group 2) and blend them together with lemon juice and garlic (group 1) to make a traditional garlic sauce (toum). The ratio of oil/salt to juice/garlic is 3 or 4 to 1, so the sauce is mostly made from group 2 ingredients. That makes your 5,000 year-old traditional Lebanese sauce an “ultra processed food” by today’s definitions.
And why is it so dangerous? Can’t it just be processed a bit less? Or is it something that keeps down the costs somehow?
I don’t see the process being dangerous at all. Yes you can process something less, but you’ll have a different product. It seems to me that pretty much all processing either enhances* a food’s taste/nutritional value, and/or makes it cheaper in some way (eg by extending the shelf life or creating a more uniform-quality product by mass production).
*note that enhancing a characteristic of food doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better for us… you can enhance the taste and caloric content of lemonade by quadrupling the sugar content for example, but it would be advisable to reduce your intake of that drink.
Per the link provided by @Buck_Godot, some examples:
- canned, packaged, dehydrated (powdered) and other ‘instant’ soups, noodles, sauces, desserts, drink mixes and seasonings
- biscuits (cookies)
- pre-prepared pizza and pasta dishes
- sweetened and flavored yogurts, including fruit yogurts
- sweetened juices
A couple of things ring through these:
- additives that are nutritionally void to enhance flavor (salt, sugar)
- additives to enhance shelf life
When I first read the thread title, I was thinking of “Pink Slime” from meat processing; what they’re really talking about is foods that are store-bought “ready-to-eat”. And I’m not talking about tomatoes bought in a store - you can eat them right away; I’m talking about Campbell’s Minestrone Soup, where they’ve added more salt than you would at home to keep it on the shelf longer; added something to make the pieces of tomato look more inviting; added something else to keep the broth from spoiling; boiled the hell out of any protein, etc. It’s dangerous because of the excess salt, the empty calories from sugar, the removed nutrients from boiling the hell, etc. Pretty much everyone agrees that making the soup at home would be much healthier, and a whole lot more work. Could it be “processed less” ? Sure, but that would be more expensive and have a shorter shelf-life. You can find “ultra processed” foods that are healthier, but you really have to pay attention to the labels.
How do you figure that? Which ingredients are industrial formulations or synthesized in labs?
ISTR that he also said you should look at the list of ingredients, and avoid anything that your grandmother wouldn’t recognise as a description of food.
Said another way: If you’re at the store and it has an ingredient list, don’t buy it.
That’s an exaggeration for effect, but the point stands. Making your own e.g. Mac
and cheese from butter, cheese, & pasta bought at the store will contain a lot less weird science than a microwaveable single-serve container of "Mac’N’Cheez"™.
I think you could choose a healthier oil to fry them in which could make a pretty big difference in how unhealthy the fries are. This is a difference between “overly-processed” and not.
Olestra is a good example of “overly-processed”.
I’ve made my own (elk) sausage,cooked many a soup, and don’t really eat prepared foods, but you need a LOT of fat and salt to make sausage worth it, and a lot of salt in soups (and baking–try cookies with no salt). My sausage I guess were “ultra-processed:” beef fat, seasoning, casings, maybe some cheese. I get the supermarket avoidance of packaged crap, but don’t paint with too broad a brush.
I wouldn’t necessarily classify it as such; one of the big concerns with commercially-made processed meats, like sausages, is the inclusion of salt, nitrates, and nitrites, primarily as preservatives.
I think this is excellent advice.
If you start with the premise that food is best if it’s recognizable food, I take that to mean that the best food is food that’s not processed at all.
By not processed, I mean food that looks as it did where it was originally found. That leaves fruit and vegetables - apples, bananas, broccoli, and cucumbers all are examples of food that can be eaten looking like it did when it was in the ground.
After that, the next best food would be minimally processed - it’s different than in its natural state, but by virtue of harvesting or butchering. Cuts of beef and chicken, rice and grains, or nuts/legumes are just a small step removed from their natural state, being converted for the convenience of cooking.
What you’d want to avoid is the stuff that has had ingredients replaced, or which has been infused with additives or other chemicals. That’s “processed” food - your cookies, cakes, juices/sodas, cured meats, prepackaged meals - and isn’t doing your health any good. In high quantities, or over a long period of time, it might be downright dangerous.
Another one is this: if you’re at the store, don’t buy anything in the frozen food aisles.