Ultra-processed food
Ultra-Processed Food
Have you read Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken? I would highly recommend it. There's so much ultra-processed food (UPF) around and apparently 60% of the average diet is made up of UPFs. UPFs include foods such as white bread, breakfast cereals, biscuits, confectionary, cakes, pudding, soups, gravies, condiments and much more. If it's wrapped in plastic and has at least one ingredient you wouldn’t find in a standard kitchen, it’s likely to be a UPF!
Defining UPFs
The aims of UPFs is to replace the ingredients of traditional foods with cheaper alternatives and additives that extend shelf life. ‘Processes and ingredients used to manufacture ultra-process foods are designed to create highly profitable (low-cost ingredients, long shelf life) convenient (ready-to consume) hyper palatable product liable to displace freshly prepared dishes and meals,’ writes Chris van Tulleken.
What's the problem with UPFs?
Obesity is now a modern epidemic with rates spiralling in the last 30 years. The rise in obesity in developed nations appears to directly correlate with the rise of ultra-processed food and drink.
The book discusses how it's not the nutritional content (fat, salt, sugar) that's the problem, it's the ultra-processing itself. UPFs typically have a very high calorie density because they are dry, high in fat and sugar, and low in fibre - so you get more calories per mouthful. The mismatch, between the taste signals from the mouth and the nutrition content, alters metabolism and appetite and appears to drive excess consumption i.e. they're designed to make you want MORE. Additionally, UPFs are intended to be convenient and cheap, and effective marketing urges us to eat constantly and without thought, leading to more snacking, less chewing, eating faster, and increased consumption!
What to do
The whole food industry is very complicated but once you understand that UPFs are NOT about nutrition - they are simply about the food companies extracting the maximum value from cheap ingredients and making the maximum money for their shareholders - it does make you think.
The book isn’t designed to tell you not to ever eat UPFs, it's designed to raise your awareness of how much food is UPF (and often we don’t realise) and give some of the power back to the consumer to help them question the food they eat and enable them to make more informed choices.
Have you read Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken? I would highly recommend it. There's so much ultra-processed food (UPF) around and apparently 60% of the average diet is made up of UPFs. UPFs include foods such as white bread, breakfast cereals, biscuits, confectionary, cakes, pudding, soups, gravies, condiments and much more. If it's wrapped in plastic and has at least one ingredient you wouldn’t find in a standard kitchen, it’s likely to be a UPF!
Defining UPFs
The aims of UPFs is to replace the ingredients of traditional foods with cheaper alternatives and additives that extend shelf life. ‘Processes and ingredients used to manufacture ultra-process foods are designed to create highly profitable (low-cost ingredients, long shelf life) convenient (ready-to consume) hyper palatable product liable to displace freshly prepared dishes and meals,’ writes Chris van Tulleken.
What's the problem with UPFs?
Obesity is now a modern epidemic with rates spiralling in the last 30 years. The rise in obesity in developed nations appears to directly correlate with the rise of ultra-processed food and drink.
The book discusses how it's not the nutritional content (fat, salt, sugar) that's the problem, it's the ultra-processing itself. UPFs typically have a very high calorie density because they are dry, high in fat and sugar, and low in fibre - so you get more calories per mouthful. The mismatch, between the taste signals from the mouth and the nutrition content, alters metabolism and appetite and appears to drive excess consumption i.e. they're designed to make you want MORE. Additionally, UPFs are intended to be convenient and cheap, and effective marketing urges us to eat constantly and without thought, leading to more snacking, less chewing, eating faster, and increased consumption!
What to do
The whole food industry is very complicated but once you understand that UPFs are NOT about nutrition - they are simply about the food companies extracting the maximum value from cheap ingredients and making the maximum money for their shareholders - it does make you think.
The book isn’t designed to tell you not to ever eat UPFs, it's designed to raise your awareness of how much food is UPF (and often we don’t realise) and give some of the power back to the consumer to help them question the food they eat and enable them to make more informed choices.