When I hear the term “ultra-processed” food, my mind goes directly to what I see in most convenience stores.
Sodas, energy drinks, candy bars, pastries and cheese puffs come to mind.
These items contain more than their fair share of sugar and/or salt, and are sorely lacking in essential nutrients such as protein, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre.
Not everything in a package is ultra-processed, however.
In fact, many healthful foods are processed, meaning they have been altered from their original state in some way.
From preserving meat to home-canning fruit and vegetables, we’ve been processing our food for centuries, says the US-based Institute of Food Technologists.
Today, everything from bread and cut vegetables to canned tuna and peanut butter are considered processed foods.
Some processed food can be safer, and even more nutritious, than their natural counterpart.
Canned tomatoes, for example, are a better source of lycopene – a strong antioxidant that may help lower the risk for prostate cancer in men – than fresh tomatoes.
Ultra-processed foods however, are often devoid of essential nutrients, which can be a problem if they make up the bulk of one’s diet.
A recent US government report says “a growing body of research associates ultra-processed foods with negative health outcomes, including in children”.
So what are ultra-processed foods?
Good question.
As of yet, nutrition and health experts have not agreed on one standard definition.
Basically, the farther away a food is from its natural state, the more processed it becomes.
Here are a few examples from several sources:
- Fresh corn on the cob: Unprocessed
- Corn kernels cut off the cob, cooked and frozen: Minimally processed
- Canned corn: Processed
- Corn chips: Ultra-processed
- Fresh tomato: Unprocessed
- Canned tomatoes: Minimally processed
- Tomato sauce or paste: Processed
- Ketchup: Ultra-processed
- Whole grains such as wheat or oats: Minimally processed
- Whole grain flour, bread, tortillas, fresh or dried pasta: Processed
- Refined flour, instant noodles, pastries, sweetened breakfast cereals: Ultra-processed
- Fresh milk: Unprocessed
- Pasteurised milk: Minimally processed with heat to kill bacteria
- Cheese/plain yoghurt: Minimally processed
- Sweetened, flavoured yoghurt: Processed
- Milk chocolate, packaged yoghurt snacks: Ultra-processed
- Fresh whole fruit and nuts: Unprocessed
- Dried fruit and dried nuts and seeds: Minimally processed
- Fruit juice and nut butters: Processed
- Boxed juice drink and peanut butter cookie mix: Ultra-processed
- Fresh meat, poultry, fish: Unprocessed
- Ground meat: Minimally processed
- Hot dogs, sausages and other salted meats, canned fish: Processed
- Laboratory-grown meat, chicken nuggets: Ultra-processed
- Fresh olives: Unprocessed
- Cured olives: Minimally processed (Note: Olives must first be cured to remove bitter compounds before they are edible.)
- Extra virgin olive oil: Minimally processed.
By the way, say food technologists, organic food ingredients are processed in the same manner as non-organic ones.
Come to think of it, perhaps the best choices in a convenience store might be the nuts or the lone bananas we sometimes see at the checkout counter. – By Barbara Intermill/Tribune News Service
Barbara Intermill is a registered dietitian nutritionist in the United States.
