How Bad Are Ultraprocessed Foods?

2024-09-10

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  • Most Americans eat ultraprocessed foods every day.
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  • These are foods that you cannot make at home because they contain flavors and chemicals that change the taste or feel of the food.
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  • Such food may also go through preparation methods that are not possible in a home kitchen.
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  • They are usually high in salt, sugar and fat.
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  • Americans may eat them in the form of sugary cereals at breakfast, frozen pizzas at dinner, and in-between bites like potato chips, sodas and ice cream.
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  • Ultraprocessed foods make up about 60 percent of the American diet.
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  • For children and teenagers, it is even higher - about two-thirds of what they eat.
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  • Scientists have connected eating ultraprocessed foods to poor health results.
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  • Being overweight is one such result and that may lead to diabetes and heart disease.
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  • Other possible health risks include depression and dementia.
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  • One recent study suggested that eating these foods may raise the risk of early death.
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  • Nutrition science is complex, though, and most research so far has found connections -- not proof -- regarding the health effects of these foods.
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  • Food manufacturers argue that processing increases food safety and food supplies.
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  • They say it also offers a low-cost, easy way to provide a diverse and nutritious diet.
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  • The Associated Press asked several nutrition experts to explain these foods so that people can make informed choices.
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  • Most foods are processed, whether it is by freezing, grinding, fermentation, pasteurization or other means.
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  • In 2009, Brazilian epidemiologist Carlos Monteiro and his team first proposed a way to classify foods by how much they are processed, not by their nutrient content.
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  • This is called the Nova classification system. It is used by international bodies like the World Health Organization.
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  • Kevin Hall is a researcher who studies metabolism and diet at the National Institutes of Health.
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  • He said that foods at the top of the Nova four-level scale are foods prepared with industrial processes and ingredients such as additives, colors and preservatives that you could not use in a home kitchen.
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  • "These are most, but not all, of the packaged foods you see," Hall said.
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  • Not all processing is unhealthy, Hall noted. Whole-grain bread, yogurt, tofu and infant formula are all highly processed, for example. But they are also nutritious.
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  • Still, many studies suggest that diets high in ultraprocessed foods are tied to poor health results.
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  • The exact cause is still unclear.
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  • Hall and his partners carried out a small study with 20 people who came to live at a health center for a month.
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  • Some of the people ate ultraprocessed foods, while others ate unprocessed foods.
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  • The two groups got the same amount of calories, sugar, fat, fiber and nutrients for two weeks.
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  • They could eat as much as they liked.
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  • When people ate the diet of ultraprocessed foods, they took in about 500 calories per day more than when they ate unprocessed foods, researchers found.
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  • They gained an average of about 1 kilogram during the study period.
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  • People who ate only unprocessed foods for the same amount of time lost about 1 kilogram.
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  • A new study is currently taking place and its results should appear next year.
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  • Dr. Neena Prasad is director of the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Food Policy Program.
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  • She said such foods are often made to be both low-cost and very tasty.
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  • "You just can't stop eating them," Prasad said.
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  • She said she believes leaders have enough facts to change policies.
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  • This could mean raising taxes on sugary drinks, limiting salt in these foods and controlling how advertisers sell the foods to children.
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  • Earlier this year, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf told a group of food policy experts that ultraprocessed foods are a complex subject.
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  • However, Califf said, "We've got to have the scientific basis and then we've got to follow through."
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  • Aviva Musicus is science director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
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  • She said buyers should check information printed on food containers and make choices based on the current U.S. Dietary Guidelines.
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  • "We have really good evidence that added sugar is not great for us. We have evidence that high-sodium foods are not great for us," she said.
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  • Musicus added, "We have great evidence that fruits and vegetables which are minimally processed are really good for us."
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  • I'm Jill Robbins.