What actually makes ultraprocessed foods unhealthy?
Scientific American · Lori Youmshajekian ·
Scientists can’t figure out why ultraprocessed foods are unhealthy for us—and new studies suggest that the “processing” isn’t the problem
For breakfast, instant oatmeal. For lunch, a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread. For dinner, a pasta bake with mozzarella cheese, and for dessert, low-fat yogurt and dried fruits. This diet is quite healthy and meets federal dietary guidelines—yet almost all of the calories come from ultraprocessed foods.
In countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., ultraprocessed foods make up at least half of the average diet. Research from the past few years has linked eating a lot of them to heart disease, diabetes and early death. Those findings have put the foods on everyone’s radar—including federal policymakers in the U.S., who put out new dietary guidelines this year telling the public to avoid highly processed foods. The idea is that the processing itself might have effects on the food that make it easier for us to eat much more of it without noticing and for our body to digest it quickly or even that certain added ingredients such as preservatives and emulsifiers might be affecting our gut and how we handle blood glucose levels.
But is the problem really the processing, or could it be the kinds of nutrients these highly processed foods tend to contain? Ultraprocessed foods are often laden with ingredients we’re told to avoid, and new findings are adding to the evidence that it’s the nutrient profile—such as low fiber content and high amounts of sugar and saturated fat—more than the processing that affects our health in the long run. This could explain the existence of “healthy” ultraprocessed foods, such as yogurt and whole-grain breads, and suggests that classifying foods based on processing is trickier than it seems because it could steer people away from foods that are possibly doing them no harm.
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