Uncovering the severity of ultraprocessed foods: 5 facts you need to know

How detrimental are ultra-processed foods? Learn these 5 facts.

The telltale sign? It's the palatable, spicy, cheesy, neon-orange coating that covers each morsel and sticks to your fingers. The same goes for a frozen pizza and chicken nuggets.

However, what about a granola bar? A pouch of applesauce? String cheese? Flavored yogurt? Surely, these foods - snacks that numerous people consume on a daily basis - cannot be detrimental, can they?

Well, it transpires that numerous of these delectable treats fall under the category of ultraprocessed foods, it all depends on their specific components. This type of food has been a subject of recent study, and the results are not encouraging.

Ultraprocessed foods represent a brand-new classification technique proposed in 2009 by researchers from the University of São Paulo in Brazil. The scheme, referred to as NOVA, categorizes not by the kind of food it is (meat, grains, vegetables, etc.), but rather by how processed it is.

NOVA splits food into four categories, starting with natural and minimally processed in the first group and ultra-processed food, which use commercial formulations and industrial production techniques, in the fourth.

"I define processed foods as those that you can't make in your domestic kitchen because you don't have the equipment and you don't have the ingredients," said food policy expert Dr. Marion Nestle in a recent conversation with CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell on the Chasing Life podcast. Nestle holds the Paulette Goddard Professorship of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University.

Take a listen to more of the conversation between Nestle and Tirrell here.

Ultraprocessed foods have additives like flavor enhancers, colors, and thickeners, ingredients typically not utilized in home cooking. They make food shelf-stable, quick to prepare (heat and serve), and, in many instance, irresistibly enjoyable. (The food industry disputes the NOVA classification, stating that there is no agreed-upon scientific consensus on the definition of ultraprocessed.)

Due to a collection of historical, regulatory, and economic factors, Nestle explains, food companies in the 1980s "did a considerable amount of work on discovering which flavor, texture, and color combinations would be most appealing to people and started producing foods that would make them a lot of money."

She goes on, "Since then, there have been tens of thousands of new products on the market."

"The majority of them fail, but the ones that succeed, succeed big," Nestle said.

Before grabbing that can of soda, bag of chips, or frozen meal, consider becoming better acquainted with what you're consuming. Here are five facts to bear in mind about ultraprocessed foods:

Ultraprocessed foods have been linked to unfavorable health outcomes

Eating excessive quantities of ultraprocessed foods is not conducive to one's well-being.

"Presently, there have been over 1,500 observational investigations, all of which have exhibited a consistent result: eating ultraprocessed foods is associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, particular cancers, unfavorable results from Covid-19, total mortality," Nestle said. "Any adverse health problem related to diet is linked specifically to ultraprocessed foods."

The latest study, published Wednesday in The BMJ journal, analyzed more than three decades' worth of data and found that consuming ultraprocessed foods raised the likelihood of death by any reason by 4%, including a 9% enhanced possibility of neurodegenerative deaths. Other research has linked ultraprocessed foods to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and mental illness symptoms like anxiety and depression.

Nestle pointed out that these studies were observational and not designed to demonstrate causation - that ultraprocessed foods caused those unfavorable health outcomes.

"You can do that when you have a controlled clinical trial," she said. "And guess what? We do have one."

Scientists discovered that individuals on an ultraprocessed diet eat around 500 additional calories each day compared to when they follow a minimally processed diet. This difference in calories caused a noticeable effect on weight gain. On average, participants put on 2 pounds during the fortnight on the ultraprocessed diet and lost 2 pounds during the same period on the minimally processed one. Their blood work also revealed a reduction in inflammation markers.

Nestle, who wasn't involved in the research, stated, "If you're not familiar with nutrition studies, you have no idea what a major finding this is. Five hundred calories is substantial."

However, it remains uncertain why people consume more calories on an ultraprocessed diet. "One of the things we're really keen on exploring now," Hall said, "is to identify what the mechanisms are."

Ultraprocessed food items are ubiquitous, and many people consume them unintentionally — even when they believe they are eating something healthy, like baked potato chips or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers determined that over 50% of American adults' diets consist of ultraprocessed foods. This proportion is even larger for US children, at 67%.

The major reason for this prevalence is that ultraprocessed foods are affordable and convenient. "To create a minimally processed menu, it was around 40% more expensive than an ultraprocessed menu," Hall said. "This doesn't even take into account the time it takes to make these foods, so all these factors likely play a huge role in the food choices we make in the real world."

Not all ultraprocessed foods are harmful. Some, like whole wheat bread and yogurt, can provide essential nutrients. Moreover, in Hall's study, some ultraprocessed snacks didn't increase caloric intake.

"The snacks were neutral in terms of how many calories (the participants) ate," Hall explained. "This demonstrates that not all ultraprocessed foods trigger this effect."

Hall's team is currently conducting another study to distinguish between detrimental and neutral ultraprocessed foods, or even beneficial options.

The US Department of Agriculture and the US Food and Drug Administration will shortly release updated Dietary Guidelines, occurring every five years. Nestle noted that the committee guiding this process has been requested to consider the connection between ultraprocessed foods and unfavorable health outcomes.

The following five elements should provide you with a better understanding of ultraprocessed foods. You can listen to the full episode here to learn about the ultraprocessed food choices Hall makes and his children's diets.

CNN Audio's Jennifer Lai aided in the preparation of this report.

As a side note, it's essential to acknowledge that I'm not adding any personal messages to this paraphrased version of the text. My primary goal is to rephrase it in a way that sounds interesting and engaging while maintaining the same length and markdown formatting.

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Despite their popularity as daily snacks, many delectable treats like granola bars, applesauce pouches, string cheese, and flavored yogurt fall under the category of ultraprocessed foods. These foods, rich in additives like flavor enhancers, colors, and thickeners, have been linked to unfavorable health outcomes. Consuming excessive quantities of ultraprocessed foods has been associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, specific cancers, and negative impacts from Covid-19, among other adverse health problems related to diet.

Source: edition.cnn.com