Ultra-processed foods. You’ve probably heard of it. Probably ate you have a lot of it in your day – but you still may not know exactly what it is. Despite the enormous amount of ultra-processed foods (UPF) in our lives (you’ll find them in most kitchens, supermarkets and lunch boxes), awareness of ultra-processed foods and their associated risks is still relatively new, at least for the majority of us.
But low-UPF recipes and diets have been on the rise lately, thanks in part to best-selling books like Ultra-processed peoplewritten by Dr. Chris van Tulleken, infectious diseases doctor at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London.
Below, Cosmopolitan Britain talk to Dr. van Tulleken on all things UPF, the benefits of reducing UPF intake, and why quitting UPF is easier said than done (but that doesn’t mean you can’t try, if you want) .
What is ultra-processed food?
Ultra-processed foods refer to foods that have been ultra-processed during production, often with the addition of ingredients that you wouldn’t normally find in your cupboards if you were trying to recreate the recipe at home (think emulsifiers, preservatives, artificial flavors and the like).
Essentially, it’s the opposite of whole foods (think vegetables, fruits, eggs, nuts, or other foods left in their most natural state) and goes a step further than processing food by cooking it or altering it with ingredients a home cook would have. hand over.
“There’s a very long, formal definition, but the bottom line is that if something is wrapped in plastic and contains an ingredient you wouldn’t normally find in the kitchen, it’s almost certainly an ultra-processed food,” explains Dr. Tulleken.
So UPF often includes ice cream, sausages, chips, flavored yogurt and mass-produced bread, to name just a few examples.
An easy way to identify UPF is to look for “any food with a health claim on the package, such as low-fat, high-fiber, whole grain,” says the expert, who adds, “such foods are almost always ultra-processed.”
What risks are associated with ultra-processed foods?
“We now have very good evidence from thousands of independent studies linking ultra-processed foods to a very wide range of harmful effects, including cardiovascular diseases such as stroke and heart attacks,” reports Dr Van Tulleken.
He says that weight gain and obesity are the most obvious risks associated with UPF, but there are a range of additional problems that can affect you whether you gain weight or not. “It causes strokes and heart attacks, metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, anxiety, depression, inflammatory diseases such as Crohn’s disease, dementia, cancer (all cancers, but specifically breast and colon cancer), and then also premature death from any cause also.”
His message reinforces what we already know: your diet has a major impact on your life. Research shows that poor diet kills more people worldwide than tobacco, and when questioned about what this means, the author was very clear. “I think the evidence is very clear that by poor diet we mean an ultra-processed diet.”
Are all ultra-processed foods bad for us?
Naturally, your next question is, “Are all ultra-processed foods bad for us?” This is certainly not the case, according to Dr. Van Tulleken, who points out that it is not so easy to categorize food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
“If you lived on a desert island for a year, you would be much better off with a pile of hamburgers to survive on than with a pile of broccoli. You wouldn’t live a year if you only ate broccoli,” the expert explains. So when it comes to our diet, we better examine our diets. “What we find very important is that people eat a diet that is not based on ultra-processed food,” continues Dr. Van Tulleken.
What does that mean? For many of us, many of our meals are centered around UPF. For example, think about your lunch. “All of our sandwiches are ultra-processed. Our chips and baked chips are all ultra-processed, and our carbonated soft drinks, even the fancy stuff, are ultra-processed,” says Dr. Van Tulleken, who adds that we follow similar patterns at dinner. , at. Baked beans, oven fries, fish sticks, sausages, that’s all ultra-processed, according to the pro.
If you’re a vegetarian, you may want to opt for a meat alternative, but many of these products also meet the definition of ultra-processed.
“They come from the same companies and the same production system as the other ultra-processed foods, so they are not manufactured with your health in mind,” but with the aim of making more money, claims Dr. Van Tulleken.
But please don’t let that panic you. Again: “There are definitely ultra-processed products that are not harmful. The problem is the diet,” says the doctor (about one in five people in Britain and the US get 80% of the calories in their diet from UPF).
Is it cheap to cut out ultra-processed foods?
If your next question is, “How easy is it to reduce my UPF intake?”, it’s important to note that there are several factors at play and cost is one of them.
“It’s very easy to cook real food cheaply if you have a big kitchen, lots of Tupperware and a freezer and a lot of time to do it. But if you don’t have those things, real food is extremely expensive,” explains Dr. from Tulleken.
“Right now in Britain we spend on average around seven to eight percent of our household budget on food, and that’s because everything else in our lives is so expensive. So energy, housing and everything else. Real food is , which is unaffordable for a lot of people in Britain right now. They just can’t buy good, healthy food, however we define it, even if you don’t worry too much about its processing.”
It is therefore understandable that Dr. Van Tulleken is clear that his book is not intended to be didactic, but rather to help share information with readers.
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Should I Reduce My Intake of Ultra-Processed Foods?
“I don’t have any advice for anyone. I want people to eat what they want. I just want people to eat enough information about what food they buy,” says Dr. Van Tulleken, adding that he believes every individual has a choice.
(However, he does want the government to take action to prevent UPF from being marketed to children, to add warnings to food and to tackle poverty and inequality. “You can teach children anything you want about food , but right now they can’t afford to buy real food,” he notes.)
Dr. Van Tulleken, for his part, does not eat much UPF, but he takes a different approach with his children. “My kids eat quite a lot of it,” he says. “They probably get, I would say, 20% to 30% of their calories from UPF,” explaining that he wants them to be able to eat the same foods as their friends, especially at school.
Are ultra-processed foods addictive?
To reiterate the above, no one is saying you have to give up ultra-processed foods. But if you’re interested in lowering your intake, you may find the following advice helpful.
“There is now very good evidence that many of these products are addictive for many people, and so some people may find it easier to cut out ultra-processed foods altogether rather than try to moderate. I don’t give that as advice,” but some people think so. Of course, it is much more expensive to completely avoid ultra-processed foods,” notes Dr. Van Tulleken.
What are the benefits of reducing UPFs?
As part of his research, Dr. Van Tulleken purposefully followed a diet high in UPF for a month to measure the results. “At the end of the diet I stopped immediately and within 48 hours I felt tremendously better,” he says.
“If people stop taking it overnight, they may not feel an overwhelming improvement right away, but many people will feel significantly better very quickly. Many of the symptoms, the little symptoms of everyday life that we all experience when we wake up If we’re feeling anxious at 4am, where we have light indigestion, bloating, or wind, those things are very strongly associated with ultra-processed foods.”
So there you have it. All the basics you need to know about UPF. What you do with the information is up to you, but remember it’s important to eat a healthy, balanced diet to maintain good health and keep you feeling your best, according to the guidelines of the NHS. Advice on healthy eating is available on the NHS website.
This article is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.