A family tuck into some ultra processed chicken strips

It's completely normal to eat ultra-processed foods. Despite mounting evidence these foods are dire for our community health, none of the major food producers in Australia, or the world for that matter, are making changes, and there's little in the way of government support to educate Australians on making better choices.

An ultra-processed food often resembles a natural product but on closer inspection it contains substances that have been extracted from foods. They have ingredients that are synthesised and not available to the home cook. Things like hydrolysed protein, gluten, invert sugars or additives and flavour enhancers. Have a look at the ingredients list on your packaged products; If you see ingredients you can't put in your pantry, you can classify it as ultra processed. These are different from traditional processed foods which include foods like cheese and sausages. These come from natural foods but have have been prepared with ingredients like oils, fats, sugars or salt. A whole food (not processed) comes directly from a plant or animal source and is not processed or prepared only with other ingredients that come from nature.

I'm a big believer in the bodies ability to heal itself and overcome adversity. Sure we can handle some of these foods, weekly, possibly daily in small amounts. It's not like we can NEVER eat them. Truthfully we've been eating these foods for years and we're ok, aren't we? Perhaps not.

A study gave one group of people access to a wholefood unprocessed diet, and another group access to only ultra processed foods. They were permitted to eat unrestricted, using their autonomy to decide when they were satisfied. The group that ate ultra processed foods consumed an additional 500 calories a day, while reporting the same level of satiety. Even more alarmingly, other research has shown that a diet high in ultra-processed foods lends itself to the development of a gut environment that favours the wrong kinds of microbes which produce a myriad of inflammatory disease. In other words, bad, disease causing gut bacteria flourish on an ultra-processed diet.

It is clear, over time, an ultra-processed diet will inevitably lead to weight gain . And while there's nothing wrong with a bit of meat on the bones, the low fibre and low nutritional value of a ultra-processed diet, coupled with the increased inflammation associated with obesity leads to a frightening list of illnesses including heart disease, dyslipedemia, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, gastrointestinal illnesses and an assortment of cancers.

These are the salty, sugary fatty foods which are chemically formulated to be hyper-palatable and keep you reaching for more. This stuff is addictive. Ultra processed foods train you to eat more and more. Our children are learning how to eat on this stuff. Their little brains are developing neuronal pathways that prefer synthetic foods.

Kids are among the biggest consumers of ultra-processed foods. I'm guilty of feeding it to my fussy eaters also. Packaged breads, cereals and snacks for kids are amongst the biggest contenders. And actually, in high income countries, such as the US, UK and Australia, ultra-processed foods make up more than 50% of calories for the average person. That's scary. And we are not really to blame. The powerful marketing, high availability, cheap (often subsidised) prices and palatable nature of ultra-processed foods make them truly hard to avoid. Many are marketed as healthy, when they’re really not. Some are worse than others. Packaged bread, for example is ultra processed. A couple of slices of wholemeal toast amongst a diet of mostly natural foods is not as harmful as sugary, salty and fatty snacks morning noon and night. And conversely flour is considered an unprocessed food, but foods made of refined flour cause your blood sugar to rise steeply, and when on repeat day in day out, elevated blood sugars drive inflammation and disease. It is wholly possible to eat unhealthily on natural foods by baking flour, sugars and lots of fats together and consuming it all too frequently.

I'm not trying to guilt you into throwing out all the food in pantry. I am encouraging you to fight back one snack at a time with mindfulness. Choose to add in more natural foods, thereby crowding out foods that are not so wholesome. Endeavour to make meals from scratch in your own home. Teach your kids to cook. It takes a bit more planning but the rewards are delicious. What you eliminate from your diet is going to create the biggest gains for your health in the long term. Your body will thank you for it.

References

Fardet, A (2016) Minimally processed foods are more satiating and less hyperglycemic than ultra-processed foods: a preliminary study with 98 ready-to-eat foods. 7, 2338–2346.

Monteiro et al (2019) Ultra processed foods; What they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutrition. Cambridge University Press