Fast food fever: how ultra-processed meals are unhealthier than you think

Ultra-processed food is more likely to lead to overweight people. According to a recent American study involving 50,000 health professionals, high UPF consumption can increase the risk of colon cancer.

People born after 1990 are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer before they are 50, according to a study. This development is thought to be a result of the UPF.

This is not a health scare, but an issue that goes to the very heart of our cuisine, as the UK is estimated to draw more than 50% of its calories from UPF. There is a question about what a UPF is.

Quick GuideShow

There are hot dogs.

Ground and blended from various waste meat products. It is hard to make a hot dog at home.

There is an alternative to pork chop.

There are instant noodles.

They are associated with cardiovascular disease in South Korea, which has the highest per capita intake.

There is an alternative to wholewheat pasta.

Chunks of food that areavoury.

Many of these products are made from ingredients that are not natural. You can't find ingredients in the bakery section of your weekly shop if a product contains them.

Unsalted nuts could be an alternative.

There is bread.

A lot of bread is produced using the Chorleywood process, which allows the use of lowprotein flour and often includes added fat, emulsifiers and other ingredients. A loaf of bread is usually made with flour, water, salt and yeast.

There is an alternative to wholewheat bread.

Photograph: Stocksolutions/www.alamy.com

The NOVA food classification system divides foods into four categories based on their level of processing. Fresh fruit and raw vegetables are not the only things that go through a process. Adding oil and salt to cooking is usually a part of it.

Group 1 is comprised of fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, and milk. Group 2 is made up of food that has been processed. Group 3 includes canned vegetables and fish. Group 4 is high in salt, sugar and fat and has undergone industrial interventions to make it better.

The complex structure of the plant and animal cells is destroyed, turning it into a nutritionally empty mush that our body can process quickly, according to the author of the book.

Sarah Berry is a nutrition expert who works at King's College. There is very clear observational data showing that people who have higher intakes of ultra-processed foods have higher levels of ill-health.

The more you try to make something imitate something that it’s not, the more processing it’s going to have to go through

Berry acknowledges that it isn't easy to deal with the problem of UPF on an individual basis. It would be a nightmare to remove them completely from our diet because of their prevalence. People like their convenience and often like their taste.

The rise of vegan cuisine is an example of how they have penetrated food in all areas. Many of the plant based replacements are in fact UPFs.

Berry says to look at oat milk as a substitute for cow's milk. The original structure has been removed and it is full of Additives.

The more you try to make something look like something else, the more processing it will have to go through.

Medlin acknowledged the benefits of cutting down on saturated fats, but also said that it has become easier to be a very bad vegan.

Processing should not be harmful to health. There was a time when the main criticism of UPF was that it didn't have enough nutrition. Natural food structures and ultra-processed foods are broken down differently by the human body.

Inflammation is thought to be caused by the removal of the natural structure of food. A recent study involving 20,000 Italians found that people with the highest consumption of UPF had the greatest risk of dying early. Inflammation markers, such as higher white blood cell count, were more pronounced in people with the highest levels of UPF.

Berry has done a lot of research on food-related inflammation. She warns of the pseudo-science behind many so-called anti- inflammatory diet, but says there is some very solid science behind the concern about inflammation.

When you eat a high-fat or high-carbohydrate meal, there is an increase in circulating triglyceride and fat in the blood.

The increase brings about an inflammatory response.

Berry agrees that that is normal. If it's in the wrong place at the wrong time, it's a problem. These chronic diseases include type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even cancer.

The majority of the gut-based micro-organisms that play a vital part in the digestion process are found in the gut. It is known that some food Additives in Ultra-processed Foods Cause Changes to the Microbiome that IncreaseInflammation

Some researchers think that inflammation increases because the body responds to elements of UPF as if they were a pathogen. The increase inInflammation throughout the Body has been called "fast foodfever".

It is not a simple picture of fast food. The American colon cancer study didn't show a link between inflammation and colon cancer, but it did show a link between inflammation and colon cancer.

The form the ingredients take is one of the complicating factors.

Whole oats and ground oats have the same back-of-the-pack labels. You get a very blunted blood sugar when people are eating oats. When they are fed finely ground oats, they get a big peak in sugar, a dip, and an increase in hunger. The food matrix is broken down by processed food. The structure of the food affects inflammation in different ways.

More time spent in an inflammatory state increases the risk of chronic diseases. Some people think that the most effective approach is to ignore the threat. Purists say the only way to get rid of them is to cut them down. They make up about half of the western diet.

There’s lots of scope for some of the ultra-processed foods to be reformulated to be better

Counterbalancing Additives can be used to reduce the ill-effects. Berry likes this type of realism.

She says she has to be pragmatic because her kids eat too much ultra-processed food.

She believes that food producers can make changes. The inflammatory response was caused by the ground oatmeal.

If I added some red wine or dark chocolate to my oatmeal, I would be able to put out that fire. Ultra-processed foods don't have those kinds of vitamins and minerals.

Adding missing vitamins doesn't have the same effect on the inflammatory effects of breaking down the food matrix. Berry says that adding fibre isn't as healthy as it was in the first place. Adding ingredients to fight inflammation is what it's about.

I think there is a lot of scope for some of the ultra-processed foods to be reformulated to be better, since highly processed foods have all come about because of the food industry reformulating foods.

The creation of no- or low-sugar versions of many products has become more prevalent because of the sugar tax. She says research shows that some sweeteners have bad effects while others have good effects.

There are enough signs to suggest that distinguishing between the health effects of sweeteners could have benefits.

Adding counter-inflammation ingredients is something that the food industry should look at, but it seems as if the government won't push that policy. Its new message is more libertarian in nature. Liz Truss told the Conservative party conference that she wasn't interested in the number of two-for-one offers at the supermarket. Plans for a ban on multi- buy deals on foods with high levels of sugar, salt and fat have been dropped.

The current traffic-light labelling system does not specifically address the issue of UHPs, and the signs are that people are increasingly dependent on the convenience and ease of UHP food.

If we are to cut back on the use of UPFs, there needs to be a shift in the way we educate our children. In the long term, we need to rediscover the importance of fresh food ingredients, cooking, and the convenience of so much convenience food, because chronic illness and cancer are never welcome in this country.

Although the government doesn't care what people eat, we will have to be more attentive about it ourselves. The problem is that a lot of products that claim to be healthy are not.