- Ultra-processed foods are a common component of many people’s diets.
- Although the definition varies, they are generally industrially produced foods that contain ingredients not found in the typical home kitchen.
- Recently, research has raised concerns about the health effects of a diet high in ultra-processed foods.
- Now, a large Australian study has found that high consumption of ultra-processed foods is linked to depressive symptoms.
Almost everything we eat is processed — merely by preparing and cooking a food, you are processing it. However, ultra-processed food is a different matter.
Ultra-processed food is food that has been industrially produced, containing ingredients that you would not find in your home kitchen. It is
The NOVA classification categorizes foods by the extent and purpose of industrial processing into four categories, from the least to the most processed.
Group one includes unprocessed or minimally processed foods, such as fresh, frozen, or dried fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, whole cuts of meat and fish, eggs, milk, and natural yogurt. These foods are altered by processes “designed to preserve natural foods, to make them suitable for storage, or to make them safe or edible or more pleasant to consume”.
Ultra-processed foods make up group four, and are described by NOVA as “industrial formulations typically with five or more and usually many ingredients, […] [which] often include those also used in processed foods, such as sugar, oils, fats, salt, antioxidants, stabilizers, and preservatives.”
“Ingredients only found in ultra-processed products include substances not commonly used in culinary preparations, and additives whose purpose is to imitate sensory qualities of group 1 foods or of culinary preparations of these foods, or to disguise undesirable sensory qualities of…
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