UPFs - What are they and should I avoid them?

UPFs are Ultra Processed Foods - you may have heard of them, as they've received a lot of press recently, but do you really understand what they are?

Many foods and ingredients we consume are processed to some extent. After all, most people don't use un-milled wheat, unbutchered meat or non-pasteurised milk. We may grow our own vegetables, fruit and herbs, forage the occasional blackberry, or even keep our own bees for honey. But, as most of us buy foods from producers or retailers, the majority of the foods we eat are processed in some way.

But some foods are processed to such a degree that they do not offer the health benefits of others, and can in fact present a risk to health. These are known as UPFs; a loose definition of UPFs is:

'products that typically contain large numbers of ingredients produced commercially, rather than domestically, and involving production methods that are not achievable during home preparation.'*

This is a really helpful definition if you need to make a quick analysis of a food. Let's break it down into three steps:

• Look at the ingredients list - is it longer than you might expect?
• Are those ingredients mainly those you would have access to in a domestic kitchen, or are there a number of unknown ingredients high up the list?
• Has it been made using processes that couldn't be achieved in a domestic kitchen? (Hydrolysed, emulsified, stabilised etc.)

Other key signs that it might be a UPF are health claims on the packaging (e.g. 'low fat, 'source of protein'), products where the main ingredient has been turned into something very different (e.g. Corn chips), and the use of palm oil.

However, scientific sounding ingredients or unfamiliar processes are not always a red flag - for instance, calcium, iron, thiamine and niacin are micronutrients often added to flour, and using cornflour as a thickening agent is a standard process in a domestic setting. So taking some time to really understand ingredients lists is a great way to know what you're eating.

The NOVA UPF classification system

The NOVA classification system, created by Professor Carlos Monteiro and colleagues, has been designed to help us navigate UPFs. The four levels of processing described by the system are:

1. Unprocessed and minimally processed foods
These are foods that can be eaten or used in a domestic kitchen in their raw states, or after minor processing that doesn't change the food's major composition and properties. These process would include drying, chilling and freezing, crushing and grinding, pasteurisation, non-alcoholic fermentation and packaging. Such foods include raw, frozen and dried vegetables and fruit, fresh meat and fish, grains, legumes and rice, milk, plain yoghurt and raw eggs, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices. Nutritionally, this group of foods is a rich source of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals.

2. Processed culinary ingredients
These are foods that are often used as added ingredients in recipes used in domestic cooking. They typically originate from ingredients in category 1 but undergo process such as pressing, grinding, milling and refining to enhance certain properties or flavours. As such, these ingredients individually don't offer broad nutritional benefits, and are often used to increase the appeal of category 1 foods (e.g. improving mouth feel, sweetness or acidity).. Examples include plant oils, animal fats, sugar, syrup, honey, salt and vinegar.

3. Processed foods
Typically, these are foods where two or more foods from categories 1 and 2 are combined and further processed, for example cooked, smoked, fermented or packaged, or category 1 foods that have been modified, for instance cheese, ham, tinned vegetables. Examples of category 3 foods are salted crisps, nuts, seeds, freshly made bread (not intensively processed e.g. Chorleywood process), tinned foods, prepared fruits and smoked fish. Nutritionally, some of these foods can retain their benefits, especially minimally processed foods originally from category 1. However, others can be nutritionally unbalanced, especially those with significant levels of added salt, sugar and fats.

4. Ultra-processed foods
Despite this category's title, these foods are not just those that have undergone a number of processes to reach their final form. They can be foods that have been subject to several industrial processes, but this category also encompasses foods that have several ingredients, often including those that are only available in commercial settings, such as hydrolysed proteins, inverted sugars, emulsifiers and gelling agents. As examples - chocolate made on an industrial scale can have few ingredients but will have undergone at least 7 processes, whereas a cheap supermarket sausage ingredients list can look like this:

• Pork, Water, Rusk (Wheat), Pork Fat, Starch (Wheat), Soya Protein, Salt, Stabilisers: Diphosphates, Guar Gum, Flavourings, Preservative: Sodium Metabisulphite, Antioxidants: Ascorbic Acid, Alpha Tocopherol, Colour: Carmine, Casing: Beef Collagen

Some examples of foods which may fit into the UPF category are: fizzy drinks, packaged snacks, sweets, ice cream, cereals, cakes, pastries, fruit flavoured yoghurts, pies and pizzas, nuggets, and burgers - but of course, this depends on the production methods and number of ingredients. Nutritionally, UPFs are often energy dense and lacking in micronutrients.

Why should we avoid them?

We've touched on the nutritional concerns of UPF foods above. Typically, UPFs are high in energy dense macro nutrients (fats and carbohydrates). These easily absorbed calories can encourage overeating, and potentially lead to obesity and related serious health issues.

Some ingredients found in UPFs have been linked to other serious health conditions such as cancers, and consumers of diets high in UPFs can have a greater tendency to suffer from tooth decay, type 2 diabetes, depression and dementia.

Eating a diet that is high in UPFs and therefore lower in whole foods is likely to lead to a lack of key micronutrients essential for good health and a well functioning body. The Safer Food Group's Level 2 Nutritional Awareness course covers micronutrients and their vital role in our diet in more detail.

Is it that simple?

Unfortunately, consumption of UPF foods in the UK is at record levels, and the health of the nation is suffering as a result. UPFs are generally cheaper, more readily available and more convenient than their whole food alternatives, and therefore their prevalence is not surprising.

UPFs are not always easy to identify and are often presented as healthy options. Many mueslis for instance have a number of added industrial ingredients, despite their healthy basis of oats, nuts, seeds and fruits. Multi-seed breads may present some health benefits over their white alternatives, but mass produced versions will still consist of emulsifiers, added enzymes and oxidising agents, and will have undergone a high-speed mixing process to make it cheaper and more consistent to produce. Those looking to reduce meat consumption are often steered towards 'plant-based' foods - but often, the popular alternatives are far more processed than their meats counterparts.

What can food industry professionals do to help the increasing threat of UPFs? Learning about UPFs and their impact on nutrition is a great start; The Safer Food Group's Level 2 course is a solid starting place which explains how foods are composed and the impact of various macro and micronutrients on our health.
Those in menu planning roles can ensure that meals are based wherever possible on whole, minimally processed foods, and those with caring and teaching responsibilities can pass on basic knowledge about UPFs, and hopefully increase awareness to help to reverse the UPF trend.

And ultimately, like most things nutrition, it's all about balance. A diet that is largely based on whole foods, plenty of plants, a good balance of macro-nutrients and lots of variety can usually handle the odd packaged snack or pizza.