Dubai Telegraph - How unhealthy are ultra-processed foods?

EUR -
AED 3.847595
AFN 70.955217
ALL 98.129555
AMD 407.873345
ANG 1.877009
AOA 956.396496
ARS 1052.049047
AUD 1.610027
AWG 1.888176
AZN 1.778779
BAM 1.955374
BBD 2.102782
BDT 124.452883
BGN 1.956627
BHD 0.394854
BIF 3076.35906
BMD 1.047532
BND 1.403708
BOB 7.23656
BRL 6.114418
BSD 1.041483
BTN 88.395715
BWP 14.228171
BYN 3.408322
BYR 20531.622365
BZD 2.099283
CAD 1.462931
CDF 3007.463637
CHF 0.932508
CLF 0.03692
CLP 1018.737053
CNY 7.590098
CNH 7.59878
COP 4598.402514
CRC 530.489476
CUC 1.047532
CUP 27.759591
CVE 110.855692
CZK 25.335395
DJF 185.46313
DKK 7.457905
DOP 62.766923
DZD 140.965938
EGP 52.004718
ERN 15.712976
ETB 127.496637
FJD 2.382454
FKP 0.826835
GBP 0.833641
GEL 2.870045
GGP 0.826835
GHS 16.546166
GIP 0.826835
GMD 74.374398
GNF 8977.129671
GTQ 8.084076
GYD 219.097457
HKD 8.151698
HNL 26.318517
HRK 7.472315
HTG 136.711517
HUF 411.800971
IDR 16654.445463
ILS 3.862223
IMP 0.826835
INR 88.266649
IQD 1364.328775
IRR 44074.898841
ISK 145.481021
JEP 0.826835
JMD 165.915433
JOD 0.743012
JPY 161.935842
KES 135.658433
KGS 90.613407
KHR 4193.126388
KMF 494.957723
KPW 942.778181
KRW 1468.838686
KWD 0.322504
KYD 0.867927
KZT 520.016622
LAK 22876.452218
LBP 93263.459457
LKR 303.119741
LRD 189.027228
LSL 18.793764
LTL 3.093089
LVL 0.633642
LYD 5.085989
MAD 10.535438
MDL 18.996224
MGA 4861.033639
MKD 61.641022
MMK 3402.342273
MNT 3559.512841
MOP 8.35024
MRU 41.439366
MUR 49.056254
MVR 16.194626
MWK 1805.940983
MXN 21.368218
MYR 4.674611
MZN 66.947912
NAD 18.793764
NGN 1768.715105
NIO 38.322016
NOK 11.58104
NPR 140.650696
NZD 1.79238
OMR 0.403283
PAB 1.04728
PEN 3.94914
PGK 4.193126
PHP 61.827942
PKR 289.212844
PLN 4.334985
PYG 8130.3837
QAR 3.819351
RON 4.976436
RSD 117.00301
RUB 108.876923
RWF 1421.703797
SAR 3.932779
SBD 8.78204
SCR 15.752477
SDG 630.091354
SEK 11.518303
SGD 1.411093
SHP 0.826835
SLE 23.810185
SLL 21966.222062
SOS 595.175999
SRD 37.181136
STD 21681.792335
SVC 9.113188
SYP 2631.954808
SZL 18.787265
THB 36.265313
TJS 11.15323
TMT 3.666361
TND 3.327129
TOP 2.453421
TRY 36.221028
TTD 7.073459
TWD 34.008644
TZS 2775.959214
UAH 43.086435
UGX 3869.619193
USD 1.047532
UYU 44.537316
UZS 13361.088752
VES 48.47434
VND 26633.494828
VUV 124.365075
WST 2.92428
XAF 655.820364
XAG 0.034027
XAU 0.000392
XCD 2.831007
XDR 0.792243
XOF 655.820364
XPF 119.331742
YER 261.804392
ZAR 18.924922
ZMK 9429.03573
ZMW 28.770281
ZWL 337.304797
  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

How unhealthy are ultra-processed foods?
How unhealthy are ultra-processed foods? / Photo: JOEL SAGET - AFP/File

How unhealthy are ultra-processed foods?

Ultra-processed foods are commonly portrayed as a modern health scourge: a threat lurking on the shelves of every supermarket linked to obesity, heart disease, cancer and early death.

Text size:

Researchers warning of their dangers have called for taxation and even bans of products which make up a huge proportion of the food eaten worldwide.

However some nutrition experts have started to push back against such all-encompassing claims, saying the definition can be vague. They say more research is needed and that some ultra-processed foods, or UPFs, can actually be healthy.

The concept was first introduced in 2009 by Carlos Monteiro, a nutrition and health researcher at Brazil's University of Sao Paulo.

His NOVA classification system for UPFs was unusual in nutrition because it ignored the level of nutrients such as fat, salt, sugar and carbohydrates in food.

Instead, it splits food into four groups, ranked by the level of processing involved in their creation. Everything in the fourth group is considered ultra-processed.

Monteiro said that UPFs "aren't exactly foods".

"They're formulations of substances derived from foods," he told AFP.

"They contain little or no whole foods and are typically enhanced with colourings, flavourings, emulsifiers, and other cosmetic additives to make them palatable."

Examples include crisps, ice cream, soft drinks and frozen pizza. But items not traditionally considered junk food are also included, such as non-dairy milks, baby formula and supermarket bread.

According to the NOVA scale, nearly 60 percent of the calories eaten in the United States and UK are from UPFs.

- 'Confused' -

In recent years, dozens of studies have found that people who eat lots of UPFs have a higher risk of heart disease, cancer, asthma, depression and other illnesses.

But these studies have almost entirely been observational, which means they cannot show that UPFs directly cause these health problems.

Monteiro pointed to a US-based randomised-controlled trial, which is considered the gold standard of research.

For the 2019 trial, 20 people were fed either ultra-processed or unprocessed food for two weeks, then the opposite for the following two weeks.

The diets were matched for things like fat, sugar and overall calories. Those eating UPFs gained an average of nearly a kilo (2.2 pounds), while those on the unprocessed diet lost the same amount.

However, there was no limit on how much the trial participants ate, including snacks. Those on the UPF diet ate much more food, and their weight gain roughly matched how many more calories they consumed, the researchers said.

Monteiro said the study showed how big companies make food "hyperpalatable" in a way that "leads to overconsumption and even poses risks of addiction".

But one of the study's co-authors, Ciaran Forde of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, rejected the idea that there is something unique about UPFs that makes them irresistible.

Forde, a critic of NOVA who has disclosed he worked for food giant Nestle nearly a decade ago, said it was not just the public who was "confused".

In a French study published last year nearly 160 nutrition experts were asked to put 231 different foods into the four NOVA categories -- they only unanimously agreed about four.

- A healthy UPF diet? -

This potential for confusion was why US researchers brought in NOVA experts to help them develop a healthy diet in which 91 percent of calories were from UPFs.

Their week-long menu scored 86/100 on the US Healthy Eating Index -- far higher than the average American diet of 59/100.

Julie Hess, a nutritionist at the US Department of Agriculture who led the study, told AFP they sought out fruits and vegetables such as dried blueberries or canned beans deemed ultra-processed because of additives like preservatives.

"There may really be something here, but right now the scale puts gummy candies and sodas in the same category as oranges and raisins," she said.

Both Hess and Forde pointed out that many people do not have the time or money to cook every meal from fresh ingredients.

"Taxing processed foods in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis will be regressive and is likely to affect the most vulnerable groups," Forde said.

Robin May, the chief scientific adviser at the UK's Food Standards Agency, earlier this year warned against a "knee-jerk reaction" that treats all UPFs the same, "when we clearly know that everything is not the same".

Monteiro dismissed criticism of the NOVA scale.

"Those who profit from the sale of ultra-processed foods naturally dislike the NOVA classification and often sow doubts about its functioning," he said.

He called for ultra-processed foods to be treated like tobacco, praising a recent ban on UPFs in schools in Rio de Janeiro.

So where does this debate leave people who simply want to have a healthy diet?

Hess felt that most people already know what food is good for them: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, some lean protein and low-fat dairy.

Even "some delicious, full-fat cheeses" are allowed sometimes, she added.

K.Javed--DT