If you have been paying attention to food news, health news, or your mom’s friend Susan’s Facebook page, you have probably been hearing about ultra processed foods. You’ve probably heard how they are both unavoidable and yet should be avoided at all costs. You’ve probably heard they are bad for you but not what they actually do that’s bad, and you probably don’t even remember where you heard any of that. And believe me, I get it. The number of times I start a sentence with “I read an article” and that “article” was actually a thing a person I don’t remember said on TikTok some unknown number of months ago…let’s just say we live in strange times and information is kind of a free for all. But we here at Sporked wanted to find out the real and actual truth about ultra processed foods, so we called up food science professors Alyson Mitchell, Ph.D. and Ameer Taha, Ph. D. They’re both food chemists at the University of California Davis who happen to study this very topic, so I heard them out, processed what they had to say, then thought through it again, then started writing this down. Does that make this very article ultra processed? Read on to find out.
What are ultra processed foods?
Professor Mitchell broke this one down for us by splitting all foods into four rough categories using NOVA classification, which sorts foods tween-dystopian-novel-style into one of the following four groups: unprocessed or minimally processed foods, processed culinary ingredients, processed foods, and ultra processed foods.
Professor Mitchell defined group one as unprocessed foods like whole fruits and vegetables, and minimally processed foods like peeled or dried fruit where you are not “adding or subtracting anything.” Group two is all about the “culinary ingredient that’s used in something else,” according to Dr. Mitchell, who gave examples like olive oil, salt, butter, and honey, and told us how group two is “derived from group one or a natural bioprocess like pressing, drying, or grinding.” Group three, processed food, is where it starts to get confusing. Don’t worry, the professor gave an excellent example: canned corn. She described how the corn has been taken off the cob and then put in a can filled with brine so you are adding group one to group two and “processing it,” which in this case she said could mean fermentation, canning, freezing, or drying.
This brings us to group four. The fourth horseman of the food-pocalypse, the lady of the hour, and the reason we are all here today: ultra processed foods. According to Dr. Mitchell, these are foods that have been “formulated” or as she put it, “foods that are made from a series of ingredients that are then processed together to mimic a food or create a new food.” So the internet didn’t lie to you, Twinkies are, in fact, ultra processed. But as many answers as this neat and tidy classification system gives us, it also brings up some questions. Namely…
What are examples of ultra processed foods? Is bread an ultra processed food? Is tofu an ultra processed food? Am I? Are you? What would your mom’s friend Susan’s Facebook page say about this?
Both professors gave examples that may not surprise you. They mentioned things like protein bars, Twinkies, and plant-based meat. Other items they mentioned might surprise you. For instance, store-bought bread (the kind that comes in a bag in the bread aisle) is often ultra processed. Professor Mitchell explained how it’s not just flour, water, yeast, sugar, and salt in there (the classic horsemen of the breadpocalypse). These breads often contain the food additive calcium sulfate, as well as DATEM, aka “diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides,” aka emulsifiers that hold all the ingredients together like bread glue. Now, when you make bread at home, the bread holds itself together without bread glue, so why put all these extra ingredients in there? Dr. Mitchell said it is to make the product “have a longer shelf life and to have texture people like.”
So, is tofu an ultra processed food? Dr. Mitchell says no, tofu is “just processed” since the ingredients are just soybeans and water and something to coagulate them. She said the process is similar to cheesemaking—you’ve done the formulation but not the second step needed to make it ultra processed. Bottom line: It’s a little complicated, but rest assured, your tofu is safe.
So now we know what they are, but what are the ultra processed foods health impacts? How bad are ultra processed foods really?
Well, Dr. Taha had the scoop for us here—and, much like Seattle, it’s not all that sunny. Dr. Taha specifically mentioned that in both rodent and human studies, oils that contain linoleic acid are associated with things like liver issues, as well as pain sensitization and cognitive impairment. And, as Dr. Taha said, “that’s just one type of ingredient in a processed food that could have adverse health effects, but there are many more [ingredients]…and it depends on the type of foods you are looking at.”
In 2014, Dr. Taha conducted a study with the National Institute of Health in which people with chronic migraines decreased their Omega-6 fatty acid/linoleic acid intake (can be found in some seed oils) and increased their Omega-3 fatty acid intake (basically, they ate more fish) for a period of 12 to 16 weeks, and, according to the study, those people got fewer migraines.
Dr. Taha also specifically mentioned added sugars, which he said are problematic. For example, high fructose corn syrup, which he says “bypasses glycolysis and goes straight in to lipid synthesis.” Basically, it doesn’t really do anything except create fat, which would be fine if you were a hibernating bear but might suck otherwise. Dr. Taha also discussed some rodent studies that suggest emulsifiers (remember the bread glue from earlier?) can disrupt the gut microbiome, meaning it can change the bacteria living in your gut, and he said that messing with that can have many different negative effects on our bodies.
All that said, the main issue with ultra processed foods that came up in my conversations with both professors is that we don’t know enough about these foods yet to know the effects of every ingredient because there just aren’t enough studies to really cover every ingredient in every ultra processed food. Both professors independently pointed out that, frankly, it’s a little bit iffy that we know so little about so many of these common ingredients.
In Conclusion…
Dr. Mitchell may have put it best when she said “we have created a very complicated and messy food system.” Basically, our food system is the cast of It Ends With Us right now. But Dr. Taha pointed out that the reality is, due to its convenience and accessibility, most people are eating some amount of processed foods. The key is moderation—especially until we know what effect each individual ingredient has on our bodies. That said, the professor was very clear that the science already tells us we should avoid foods with certain oils and added sugars whenever we can, and to “eat the threes and nix the sixes”—i.e. look for foods with omega-3 fatty acids (like in salmon) and try to minimize omega-6 .
Suffice it to say, next time I go to the grocery store, I’m going to have a lot to ~process~.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!