Lately, however, you may have seen a new term tossed around in nutrition news: “ultra-processed foods.”
This category of food is making headlines as recent research connects it with major health risks.
So, what’s the difference between ‘regular’ processed foods and ‘ultra’ processed foods? And what does that mean for your health?
By definition, a processed food is simply one that’s been altered from its original form. The International Food Information Council defines processing as “any deliberate change in a food that occurs before it is ready for us to eat.”
Heating, pasteurizing, canning, and drying are all considered forms of processing. Some definitions even include refrigeration in the mi
Despite this problem of semantics, some common features shape the concept of ultra-processed foods
By most definitions, the changes that turn a “regular” processed food to an ultra-processed one occur in the final stage of food production, called tertiary processing.
Typical food processing happens in up to three stages. Understanding these three stages can help you independently determine how processed a food is and what your standards are.
Primary and secondary stages involve basic preparations that take food from its ground-level form to being edible.
Harvesting grain, shelling nuts, and slaughtering chickens are all considered primary processing. Baking, freezing, and canning are secondary forms that make a slightly more complex finished product.
It’s at the third (or tertiary) level of processing where flavor injections, added sugars, fats, and chemical preservatives begin to turn foods into the ultra-processed variety.
3 stages of food processing
First stage of “processing” involves making sure the food is edible. Harvesting grain, shelling nuts, and slaughtering chickens are all considered primary processing. Foods that have only gone through this stage of processing are often still considered “whole” foods.
Secondary steps make a more complex, finished, “processed” product. This includes cooking, freezing, and canning.
Ultra-processed foods go through a third stage, when manufacturers inject flavors, added sugars, fats, and chemical preservatives.
In short, ultra-processed foods are probably what many of us already think of simply as processed foods — those shiny, packaged, nothing-to-do-with-nature products found at fast-food restaurants and gas station mini-marts.
Like the NOVA classification system, many authorities agree a long list of ingredients is a primary indicator of an ultra-processed food. A 2016 study examining how common they are in the American diet called them formulations that “besides salt, sugar, oils, and fats, include substances not used in culinary preparations.”
The study authors went on to include anything that used additives to imitate the qualities of “real” foods.
“I like the definition as being the addition of sugar, salt, oils, and fats to aid in flavor and preservation,” Gabriel says.
Though they may add flavor and texture, it’s all these “extras” that are the likely culprit of endangering our health. Excess sugar, salt, and oils in the diet are known to play a role in the development of numerous health conditions.
Avoiding processed foods is already something we know
But understanding how foods get ultra-processed can be a helpful step in remembering to minimize our intake of them. Diligent label reading can also help you choose products with fewer ingredients.
Cooking at home also goes a long way toward reducing the amount of ultra-processed you consume. Restaurant meals (especially fast food) are notorious for tinkering with their recipes to achieve a certain flavor, rather than a nutrition profile.
However, there are cases when getting unprocessed, whole food isn’t that simple, whether it’s an issue of affordability, availability, or accessibility.
Still, there are also small changes you can make to tweak the amount of ultra-processed foods in your diet. Here’s a chart to help you make smart swaps:
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