ultra-Processed Food
It is estimated that for the average New Zealander 40 - 50% of their dietary intake comes from ultra-processed foods. Children and teenagers tends to eat more ultra-processed foods than adults. Higher intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with many chronic disease including cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.
What are ultra-processed foods?
Ultra-processed foods are formulations of many ingredients, mostly of exclusive industrial use (i.e. ingredients that are not in your pantry), that results from a sequence of industrial processes. The purpose of creating these ultra-processed foods is a crucial part of the definition of these products. The purpose is to create highly profitable food and drink products that are often promoted by transnational corporations that could replace less processed foods and drinks. The industrial processes used to create ultra-processed may include extraction (e.g. plant and whey protein powders), hydrolysis/hydrogenation (e.g. ready to use frosting), extrusion (e.g. shaped breakfast cereals), moulding, pre-frying (e.g. vegan hot dogs), cosmetic additives (e.g. food colourings), sweetners (e.g. sugar free products), sophisticated packaging (e.g. baby food pouches).
Most foods have undergone some processing. The purpose of the processing is a key difference when thinking about whether a food is an ultra-processed food or a processed food. Processed foods are made with simple industrial processes with the purpose to increase the durability of foods and to modify or enhance their sensory qualities. For example, a block of cheese is made by adding cultures and enzymes to milk to create curds and whey. The ingredient list should include milk, cultures, enzymes and salt. This is a processed food. An ultra-processed cheese is cheese made using the same method but then grated with other ingredients added to stop it from clumping together (e.g. starches, anti-caking agents and preservatives). The purpose of this process is to make a more profitable product that could replace regular block cheese.
Another example is rolled oats. Rolled oats are what is call a processed culinary ingredient - the oat grain has been separated from the plant, the outer husk removed and then rolled. There are also processed food and ultra-processed food versions of rolled oats available at the supermarket. A processed version may include oats, sugar, simple dried fruit and spices. An ultra-processed version of rolled oats would be flavoured rolled oat which have ultra-processed sugars and dried fruit pieces added e.g. dried fruits with industrial sugars added (e.g. invert sugar), humectant, vegetable fibres and gums.
Does regularly eating ultra-processed foods affect your health?
Food processing usually results in a loss of nutrients. Some of this loss is beneficial and makes the food easier for us to digest but, in the case of ultra-processed foods, the processing results in a substantial loss of micronutrients and fibre and changes how a food is digested. It is estimated that more than As mentioned in a previous blog, fibre is essential for healthy digestion and maintaining a more diverse and healthy microbiome. Micronutrients have many essential roles in your body including fighting inflammation and infections, maintaining your immunity and skin health, they act as antioxidants and are needed to digest and harvest energy, protein and fat from the food we eat.
A large American study showed that diets high in ultra-processed foods were associated with a poor quality diet. The typical American diet has become more dependent on ultra-processed and as a consequence intake of protein, fibre, vitamins A, C, D, and E, zinc, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium have all fallen despite calorie intake increasing. Most of these nutrients are found in fruit, vegetables and whole grains, the very food groups that are not usually present in the ingredient lists of ultra-processed foods. Furthermore, ultra-processed foods more easily digested which results in more of the calories being absorbed (and probably stored as fat) by the body. Also, ultra-processed are easier to eat (e.g. require less chewing, less energy sent preparing them) and therefore we tend to eat mindlessly eat more of them than our body needs. These two reasons are why there is increasing rates of obesity in countries that have higher consumption of ultra-processed foods.
Ultra-processed foods and inflammatory bowel disease
Recently published research has shown that there is an association between eating a diet high in ultra-processed food and developing inflammatory bowel disease. A study by Narula et al. that including data on food intake from 21 countries found that usually eating more than 5 servings of ultra-processed foods per day was associated with a 1.82 times increased risk (95% confidence interval of 1.22 to 2.72) of developing inflammatory bowel disease compared with eating less than 1 serving per day. This trend seems to be strong for developing Crohn’s disease as opposed to ulcerative colitis. This trend also been shown in other studies.
Studies, such as Chen et al. have also shown that people with inflammatory bowel disease tend to eat more ultra-processed foods than people without inflammatory bowel disease and that higher intake of ultra-processed foods was associated need for surgery. It is important to understand that associations are not cause and effective. The reasons for these associations are not fully understood yet.
How can you eat a diet containing less ultra-processed foods?
We live in an environment filled with more and more ultra-processed food products. Many of us are juggling caring for ourselves and our loved ones with working or studying and grabbing food on the go can become normal when we are busy.
If you want to eat a higher-quality diet that includes less ultra-processed foods planning is key. Planning ideas include:
have food and small reusable containers available at home. This allows you to grab whole foods and put them into a container as you walk out the door so that when you get hungry you have something nutritious to fuel your body. It is too easy to grab an ultra-processed, conveniently wrapped muesli bar instead.
think ahead about your meals. If you know what you can cook or make for dinner you are less likely to buy or order ultra-processed fast foods.
try to cook more meals from scratch with basic ingredients.
make extra food when you cook so that you can either take leftovers for lunch or freeze leftovers to reheat in the following weeks.
Your long-term food habits have a greater impact on your health than what you choose to eat occasionally. Eating some ultra-processed foods is unavoidable but if we can halve our consumption it should be health benefits and positively effect your physical and mental health.
Simple, fast, home made convenience meals
Ready-made sauces are convenient options but tend to be either cheap and heavily processed or simple and expensive. You can make a fast, nutritious and delicious pasta dish almost as fast as pouring a jar of pre-made sauce over your cooked pasta.
Easy Pasta Carbonara - Serves 2
I like this dish because it is quick, tasty and nourishing.
Pasta – wheat pasta or gluten free. I like to use linguine or fetticine.
3 free range eggs
1/2 cup flavoursome hard cheese grated (not pre-grated!) e.g. Parmesan
a clove of garlic finely chopped (optional)
3 rashers of bacon chopped into 1cm squares. I like to use Henderson’s bacon which is chemical and preservative free and is often made with NZ pork. (optional)
1/2 cup of seasonal vegetables cut into chunks e.g. courgettes, tomato, leafy greens, frozen peas. In the dish pictured I used courgettes and radish.
Cook pasta as per instructions. While pasta is cooking whisk eggs and cheese together. In a heavy based frying pan add a little oil and fry bacon, if using, until cooked and a little crisp. Remove bacon from the pan, then stir-fry garlic and seasonal vegetables until just cooked and remove from pan. Once pasta is cooked, drain and add to the still warm (but not hot) frying pan. Toss quickly to coat pasta with pan flavours. Remove pan from the heat and add the egg and cheese mixture and gently mix. Add bacon and vegetables to the pasta and season with salt and pepper. Do not put pan on the heat again or the eggs will scramble! The heat in the pan cooks the egg and melts the cheese to create a creamy yellow sauce.
All done in the time it takes to cook a pot of pasta! Delicious. Serve with extra steamed vegetables (which you can steam on top of the cooking pasta) or salad to make it a balanced meal and help you get your 5+a day of fruit and vegetables.