More than half of the energy (calories) the average person consumes comes from ultra-processed foods. They’re convenient, appealing, and heavily marketed. But are they bad for you? Let’s delve into the world of processed foods and answer the question: Is Ice Cream Processed Food?
Understanding Ultra-Processed Foods
The term “ultra-processed foods” stems from the NOVA food classification system, developed by researchers at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. This system categorizes food based on the extent of processing during production:
- Unprocessed or Minimally Processed Foods: These are foods in their natural state or with minimal alterations, such as fruits, vegetables, milk, fish, pulses, eggs, nuts, and seeds, without added ingredients.
- Processed Ingredients: Ingredients added to other foods, like salt, sugar, and oils.
- Processed Foods: Combinations of foods from groups 1 and 2, altered in ways a home cook might do, including jam, pickles, canned fruits and vegetables, homemade bread, and cheeses.
Alt text: Fresh and wholesome ingredients representing unprocessed foods, emphasizing natural goodness and minimal processing.
- Ultra-Processed Foods: These typically contain more than one ingredient rarely found in a home kitchen and include additives like preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners, and artificial colors and flavors. They often have a long shelf life.
Ice Cream and Other Ultra-Processed Foods: What to Watch Out For
So, is ice cream processed food? Yes, most commercially produced ice cream falls into this category. Other examples include:
- Ham and sausages
- Mass-produced bread, breakfast cereals, instant soups
- Crisps and biscuits
- Fruit-flavored yogurts
- Carbonated drinks and some alcoholic drinks like whisky, gin, and rum.
The Potential Downsides of Ultra-Processed Foods
Ultra-processed foods often contain high levels of saturated fat, salt, and sugar, potentially displacing more nutritious options in our diets. The additives in these foods have also been suggested to cause negative health effects.
The processing itself can impact how our bodies react to food. For instance, whole nuts result in less fat absorption than ground nuts. A new theory suggests that diets high in ultra-processed foods could also negatively affect gut health.
More research is needed to pinpoint the exact elements of ultra-processed foods that might be detrimental to our health and determine if the issue lies in individual elements or their combination.
Currently, it’s challenging to discern whether the problem stems from the foods themselves or whether a diet rich in these foods reflects an overall lifestyle linked to poorer health outcomes.
However, considering the high salt, sugar, and saturated fat content in most ultra-processed foods, reducing consumption seems prudent.
Navigating the Grocery Aisle: Bread, Cereal, and Ultra-Processing
When considering ultra-processed foods, images of chips, sweets, and sugary drinks might spring to mind, but some less obvious examples exist.
Common items like breakfast cereals and mass-produced or packaged bread can be categorized as ultra-processed due to added ingredients such as emulsifiers, sweeteners, and artificial colors and flavors.
Critics of the NOVA method argue that categorizing foods like these, which can be part of a healthy diet, alongside less nutritious ultra-processed foods is problematic. Less nutritious examples include pre-prepared meals, sausages and nuggets, as well as sweets, biscuits, pastries, buns, cakes, and pre-prepared chips.
Plant-based meat and cheese substitutes are also considered ultra-processed, meaning they might not be as healthy as their marketing suggests.
Despite its drawbacks, the NOVA system remains widely used in research, helping establish a link between diets high in these foods and poorer health outcomes.
Cheese: Processed or Ultra-Processed?
Most freshly made dairy cheeses, such as Cheddar, Brie, mozzarella, and Edam, are categorized as processed foods due to methods like pasteurization, fermentation, or aging.
Ultra-processed cheeses include cheese slices, spreads, some shredded cheeses, and flavored cheeses. These are industrially processed and often contain added fats, sugars, and salt, as well as ingredients not typically found at home, like preservatives, sweeteners, emulsifiers, and artificial colorings.
Vegetarian and vegan cheeses can also be ultra-processed due to the ingredients and additives used to mimic the taste and texture of dairy cheese.
Cheese is a good source of calcium and protein and, in moderation, can be a healthy part of your diet.
To avoid ultra-processed options, stick to traditional cheeses. Buying a large block of Cheddar and slicing it yourself is often cheaper and healthier than pre-sliced options.
Remember that cheese can be high in salt and saturated fat, so aim for a matchbox-sized portion (around 30g) per day to manage your intake.
Moderation, Balance, and Mindful Choices
While it might seem ideal to revert to eating only minimally processed foods, this isn’t feasible for most people due to time and budget constraints.
Although growing evidence suggests that ultra-processed foods might negatively impact heart health and circulation, the type and quality of research mean it’s not yet clear whether complete exclusion is necessary.
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), after reviewing evidence on processed foods and health in 2023, concluded that dietary recommendations require caution due to limitations in available research.
Instead of eliminating these foods entirely, consider your overall diet balance. Include minimally processed foods like fruits and vegetables with meals, opt for water over sugary drinks, and try to make time for home cooking throughout the week.
Also, remember that not all ultra-processed foods are equal. When you do include them, choose options with greater nutritional value, such as wholegrain bread and cereals or baked beans, rather than crisps, sweets, or pizzas.
Make it a habit to read food labels to easily identify and reduce your intake of foods high in sugar, salt, or saturated fat.
Simple Swaps for a Healthier Diet
Eating a lot of processed foods leaves less room for healthier options like fruits and vegetables, fish, unsaturated oils, pulses, nuts, and seeds. Consider making these swaps:
- Replace flavored yogurts with added sugar or sweeteners with plain yogurt and add your own chopped fresh, frozen, or dried fruit.
- Instead of buying sauces or ready meals, cook larger batches of your favorites at home and freeze them in portions for later use.
- Have porridge in the morning with fruit and nuts instead of sugary, low-fiber breakfast cereals.
- Eat fresh, baked, or stewed fruit instead of shop-bought fruit pies or cakes.
- Snack on nuts instead of biscuits with your afternoon tea.
The Latest Research on Ultra-Processed Foods and Heart Health
Several studies have linked higher consumption of ultra-processed foods to a greater risk of:
- High blood pressure
- Cardiovascular disease
- Heart attacks and strokes
- Early death
One study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in August 2023, tracked 10,000 Australian women for 15 years. Women with the highest intake of ultra-processed food were 39 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure than those with the lowest.
Another larger analysis, also presented at the meeting, examined 10 studies involving over 325,000 men and women. It showed that those who ate the most ultra-processed food were 24 percent more likely to experience serious heart and circulatory events, including heart attacks, strokes, and angina. Each 10 percent increase in daily intake of ultra-processed food was associated with a 6 percent increase in heart disease risk.
A 2019 study following 19,899 university graduates in Spain also revealed a connection between ultra-processed foods and the risk of early death. Participants were divided into groups based on their level of ultra-processed food intake. The group eating the fewest ultra-processed foods consumed less than 2 servings per day, while the group eating the most consumed more than 4 servings per day. People in the highest intake group were 62 percent more likely to have died after an average of 10.4 years than those in the low consumption group.
These observational studies can only identify associations between factors and cannot prove that ultra-processed foods directly cause negative health outcomes like heart disease. Other factors could potentially explain the association.
In the Spanish and Australian studies, researchers found the same increased risks after considering other aspects of participants’ diets, such as their saturated fat, salt, and sugar intake. This suggests that the processing itself may be harmful rather than simply the higher levels of fat, salt, and sugar.
BHF Senior Dietitian Victoria Taylor noted that observational studies can only show an association and cannot determine the underlying cause. She emphasized the broad classification of ultra-processed foods used by researchers and highlighted various potential reasons for the link between these foods and increased health risks, such as nutritional content, food additives, or other lifestyle factors. Before making any changes to advice or policy, a thorough understanding is crucial.
She also recommended adopting a Mediterranean-style diet, rich in minimally or unprocessed foods like fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, and wholegrains, along with regular exercise and abstaining from smoking, as beneficial for reducing the risk of heart and circulatory disease.
