Is Ultra-Processed Food Making Our Society Unwell? What Can We Do To Move Away From This Unhealthy Habit?
A rule I now live by is that we should be taking care of our health through what we eat, drink and do on a day-to-day basis. It’s clear that in some cases we can’t do anything to stop being diagnosed with illnesses, but at times it’s often very preventable. However, even with unpreventable illnesses, they can still be managed by eating the right foods and drink.
It would be very unusual for someone to say that they’ve never had a period of their life where they haven’t indulged in healthy foods at some point in their lives. I’m the first to hold my hand up and say that I used to enjoy processed meats, deep fried foods, fizzy drinks, chocolates, sugary sweets and so on. But there came a point for me where enough was enough. I could see what it was doing to me. At the age of 32, I’d reached 15 stone and become an unhealthy weight. By this point, I’d already given up smoking quite easily when I was 23, so I felt that this could be no different. I had been through a very difficult life experience at the time and suffered a few ongoing health issues and I wanted to fix this. So between taking up running and starting to take some thought in the food I was eating this became very achievable. Within the space of just over a year, I’d lost nearly 5 stone and was feeling so much fitter and healthier! So, in my opinion, it’s about adopting the right mindset when making life choices and giving up something. If you know the outcome of what you are doing is going to make you feel much better, it’s 100% worth it! Whether it is giving up smoking, drinking alcohol or junk food, I have done all 3 quite easily! If you don’t find it easy it might be worth considering getting some help from someone qualified in these areas to try and identify what is holding you back. A nutrition coach or counsellor may be able to help with the psychological aspects of trying to make these big lifestyle changes.
Ultra-processed foods are probably one of the hottest topics of discussion right now and rightly so. What do the words ‘Ultra Processed Foods’ mean?
There is no definitive definition of ultra-processed foods, but in general, they contain ingredients not used in home cooking. Most of them have chemicals, colourings and sweeteners, used to improve the food's appearance, taste or texture.
How do we determine the difference between ultra-processed foods and processed foods? There are 4 different food groups which are as follows:
Unprocessed
Minimally Processed Foods
Processed Foods
Ultra-processed foods
Processed foods are a combination of whole foods which could include fruits, vegetables, nuts and eggs made into something. An example of this would be bread made from wheat flour, water, salt and yeast, therefore technically considered a processed food. But when you add in emulsifiers, colourings or preservatives the bread would be ultra-processed. Ultra-processed foods are often high in salt, sugar and saturated fats.
Although there’s no definitive evidence about the health impact of eating ultra-processed food. Personally, I think that there are certain facts that speak for themselves to say that it is bad for you. A recent study in the British Medical Journal- based on information from 9.9 million people worldwide – linked UPF to the following:
- a higher risk of death from cardiovascular illnesses (such as heart attack and stroke)
- obesity
- type 2 diabetes
- sleep problems
- anxiety and depression
A recent report by the Food Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) said that unhealthy food habits are costing the UK more than £260 billion. The FFCC report calculated both the direct and indirect impact of diet-related ill health to come up with the annual total.
Experts say they did this by combining the cost of healthcare and social care, welfare spending, productivity losses and the human consequences of chronic disease, and identifying what proportion relates to food.
The figure is made up of £116.4bn of lost economic productivity, £67.5bn in healthcare, £14.3bn in social care, £10.1bn in welfare and £60bn that can be linked to the chronic disease attributable to the current food ecosystem.
Professor Tim Jackson, the director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at Surrey University, who carried out the analysis, said: "The connection between diet and health is often discussed, but the economics of that link are staggering.”
When we factor in the health impacts, we discover that the true cost of an unhealthy diet is more than three times what we think we're paying for our food.
"Some of these hidden costs, like lost economic productivity, can be hard to see."
The FFCC said ultra-processed foods make up over half of the UK adult diet and almost two-thirds of the adolescent diet and the market, having seen a rapid increase in the past two decades. It says this trend is likely to worsen in the coming year.
Whilst ultra-processed food can often be an attractive alternative to so many people whether it is for convenience or simply just a cheaper alternative, the long-term effects really should be taken into account. These foods are designed to easily attract consumers whether it is the way they are marketed or the actual ingredients which leaves you wanting more. The combination of sugar and chemicals can make it very difficult for some people to have a cut-off point at eating these very unhealthy foods. Think about Pringles with their ‘once you pop you can’t stop’ slogan. It’s a perfect combination of persuasive marketing and addictive ingredients. Yet what you won’t find on there is a label saying the ingredients in this product may cause harm to your body!
I believe that like any other product on the market i.e. alcohol or cigarettes, food products containing ultra-processed ingredients should come with a health warning and certainly not with a nutritional benefit strap line. This was demonstrated at a presentation I attended by Henry Dimbleby at Aberdeen University called ‘Eating ourselves to death’. He looked at how the modern diet is destroying our bodies and the planet. He spoke about a Nestle KitKat chocolate cereal that had been launched and had originally been marketed as nutritious and delicious but the UPF ingredients far outweighed the nutrition in it so he actually convinced them to remove it. But this is how big food manufacturers draw consumers in with clever enticing straplines which makes us believe that what we are eating is actually healthy. This presentation was an interesting insight into how the modern diet of highly processed food is slowly making our population ill and even killing people in some cases. There were some alarming statistics including one slide which showed a progression of obesity from 1950 to now being at its all-time high. We must ask ourselves why this is? Is it because food was made of more natural ingredients back then and more people cooked from scratch?
A study by Imperial College London suggests that more than one billion people worldwide - about one in eight – are obese.
It says that among children and adolescents, the rate of obesity increased five-fold between 1990 and 2022. It more than doubled for women and nearly tripled for men.
And the most recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Health Observatory, from 2016, says that over 28% of adults in the Americas are now obese, as are 26% in Europe, 19% in the Eastern Mediterranean and 9% in Africa.
"In many countries in the world, ultra-processed food is now more affordable, and more accessible, than the traditional whole foods in the markets," says Dr Claire Johnson, a nutrition specialist at the UN agency for children, Unicef.
More people worldwide now have type 2 diabetes, according to the International Diabetes Federation.
"The sugar, salt and fat in ultra-processed food are all risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes - as well as a diet high in calories and low in nutrients," says Jaakko Toumilehto, a professor of public health at the University of Helsinki.
In years gone by, were there more local shops with fresh ingredients available to hand? Or is it that people are in more of a rush these days and want something quick to eat? Or is it simply that it is cheaper to feed a family of 4 cheap ultra-processed frozen food than it is to buy fresh food from the supermarket? The truth is that all of these have some merit to why we are living in such an unhealthy society. Are we seeing a trend in lower age mortality due to society eating more ultra-processed foods than ever before?
There is no doubt that the government needs to step in and tax foods that are knowingly causing health problems and subsidise fruit and veg farmers to reduce the cost for consumers. There also needs to be traffic light systems on ultra-processed food and health warnings like there are on cigarettes and alcohol. I firmly believe that this would go some way in making a much healthier society.
In conclusion, it is obvious that change needs to happen, the government and society need to act on a problem that appears to be spiralling out of control!
The only way we can be sure we know what we are putting in our body is by cooking from scratch and eating a good, varied diet using whole foods. Personally, I think a mainly plant-based diet is the optimum way to get the best nutrition into you, trying to eat at least 30 plants a week, from fruit, veg, pulses, nuts and seeds that all have so many valuable nutritional benefits including vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, protein and carbohydrates. I also try to eat or drink something fermented each day whether it is kraut, kimchi, miso or kombucha. It’s so good for the gut microbiome, and for maintaining a healthy gut in general. Depending on your body and your digestion, it may be okay to eat quality meat and fish products. Let the plants make up the majority of your plate and the meat and fish be your protein source. I highly recommend avoiding processed meats as these have been shown to have links to bowel cancer and other diseases.
It’s also important to look after yourself through regular exercise, sleep and mindful meditation.
Take care of your bodies, please. We only have one life and it’s important to live it in the best way possible, for yourself and your families. Be kind to yourself and others.
Tim Yeomans, Founder of Nourished and Refuelled
@nourishedandrefuelled
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