More than half of the calories consumed at home originate from ultraprocessed foods. For medical professionals like Dr. Stephan Devries, this reality is dire.
“Ultraprocessed foods are clever manipulations of mostly unhealthy ingredients titrated to appeal to common cravings—tasty by design, but it’s all a trick,” Devries told the American Medical Association.
Devries’ description parallels the NOVA classification system. According to the NOVA system, ultraprocessed foods are “industrial formulations made entirely or mostly from substances extracted from foods (oils, fats, sugar, starch, and proteins), derived from food constituents (hydrogenated fats and modified starch), or synthesized in laboratories.”
Examples of ultraprocessed foods range from meats like sausages, jerky and pepperoni to fruit drinks composed of water and sugar.
Food made from industries, laboratories and food extractions is not irregular as 57% of adult caloric intake comes from UPFs.
In children, that number rises to 67%.
A 2019 study by the National Institute of Health revealed that over a 19-year period, the highest consumers of ultraprocessed foods showed a 31% higher mortality rate when compared to peers who consumed fewer UPFs.
Dr. David L. Katz, a specialist in internal medicine and the co-author of the book “How to Eat: All Your Food and Diet Questions Answered,” addressed the questions.
“In an ideal world, all ultraprocessed foods would be eliminated,” Katz wrote in the book. “If we’re talking about naturally occurring nutrients, though, things like saturated fat are not intrinsically ‘bad.’”
UPFs are global, not concentrated in one country or region. Widespread consumption of ultraprocessed foods worries Dr. Priscilla Machado, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition at Deakin University in Australia.
“There is growing evidence that ultra-processed foods are displacing healthy diets and harming health globally.
In the face of vested interests, we must be bold and address the issue to protect our collective health,” Machado said.
Market data and Machado’s hints towards UPFs being a moneymaker for profit-seeking organizations. From 2025 to 2029, the ultraprocessed food market is projected to grow by $856.6 billion.
Some scientists holding more favorable opinions of ultraprocessed foods have received financial aid from UPF manufacturers like Nestle, PepsiCo and General Mills.
The issue with UPFs is not just limited to what’s in the food, but what people miss out on when it makes up most of their diet.
“[Ultraprocessed foods] they tend to be lower in fiber, micronutrients, and phytochemicals,” Dalia Perelman, a research dietitian at Stanford Prevention Research Center, said.
With only 7% percent of Americans meeting the daily nutrition recommendations for fiber, UPF consumption becomes more of a concern for researchers like Perelman.
Some ways to avoid the health risks that come with ultraprocessed foods are to consume alternatives, like processed and homemade versions of an UPF.
An alternative to soda would be flavored sparkling water or water with fruit slices. Something as simple as cooking chicken at home instead of buying a premade rotisserie chicken at the deli makes a meal healthier.
