Question: Are there no rules or regulations controlling the sale of ultra-processed foods? Surely, if they are such a danger to health, as articles I have read in Nutrition and elsewhere suggest, they should be regulated. Does responsibility for buying such foods lie solely with the consumer?
Answer: Greater consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with an increased risk of certain cancers, according to a review published in January in eClinicalMedicine. Yet the portion sizes and popularity of these highly profitable food products continue to grow globally, leading to tangible effects on our health.
Ultra-processed foods contain few wholefood ingredients found in a kitchen pantry. Instead, they are formulations containing processed ingredients such as protein isolates, modified starches, flavours, colours, emulsifiers, added sugar, salt, fats, preservatives and other additives.
These ingredients somehow make them convenient, affordable, tasty and microbiologically safe. Examples include sugar-sweetened beverages, sweets, packaged snacks, instant soups and noodles, processed meat and various ready- to-eat/heated meals.
However, the ultra-processing method removes beneficial nutrients and bioactive compounds while adding non-beneficial nutrients and food additives. So, these foods tend to have less protein, dietary fibre, micronutrients and other biochemicals and instead are high in saturated fats, sugar and salt.
The eClinicalMedicine review, which was co-funded by the World Cancer Research Fund, found ultra-processed foods constituted, on average, 23% of the total diet for a British adult. And for every 10-percentage-point increase in consumption, the risk of ovarian cancer increased by 19% and overall cancer by 2%. Typically, these foods contribute 25-58% of total daily energy intake in adults living in developed countries. Higher consumption was also linked to a greater risk of dying from cancer.
Diets high in ultra-processed foods have also been linked to hypertension, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk. And a 2020 review published in Nutrition Journal also found links to cancer along with cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, coronary heart diseases, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, wheezing and frailty.
In New Zealand, a 2021 study found they contributed 42-51% of energy intake in the diets of children aged 1, 2 and 5. This is perhaps unsurprising, given 83% of foods on our supermarket shelves are ultra-processed.
This raises the question: why are manufacturers allowed to sell this stuff? In short, they are not breaking any laws if all ingredients and additives are currently legal under the Food Standards Code. However, ultra-processed foods contain some controversial food additives and researchers theorise this may in part explain the health risks. Contaminants formed during processing and toxic pollutants that migrate from packaging may also be to blame. Indeed, studies have found higher levels of bisphenols in the urine of people who consume more of these foods than others. Phthalates and bisphenols found in food storage materials are known to disrupt our endocrine system. Plus, ultra-processed foods contain nitrates and nitrites and acrylamide, all of which, in high doses, are linked to certain cancers.
In addition, they contribute to poor health through their lacklustre nutritional profile and the physical structure of their food matrix, which researchers believe may alter nutrient availability and promote an unhealthy pro-inflammatory community of gut bacteria.
Hence, they have been labelled a global threat to public health, not only because they harm our long-term health, but also because they are the fastest-growing segment of the worldwide food market.
Ultra-processed foods are cheap to manufacture and are not increasing in price at the same rate as wholefoods such as fruits and vegetables, a 2019 study in Frontiers in Nutrition noted.
Certainly, the occasional ultra-processed food or drink will not cause significant harm to health. But in the face of a cost-of-living crisis, cash-strapped consumers are more likely to choose cheap food over nutritious food as the mainstay of their diet.
So, sadly, we are likely to see more harm from our overprocessed food supply in the coming decades.
