Key points
- UPFs are developed by combining food extracts with additives and industrial ingredients
- The result is food items that are cheap, profitable and widely accessible
- High salt and sugar content of many UPFs makes the products unhealthy
ISLAMABAD: A new study suggests that eating ultra-processed foods (UPFs) might hinder attempts to lose weight even when the diet accords with national healthy-eating recommendations.
The study, published in Nature Medicine on Monday, highlighted a lack of focus on the impact of UPFs in national dietary recommendations in the United Kingdom — where the study was conducted — and elsewhere.
Largest and longest clinical trial
It is the largest and longest clinical trial yet to examine the effects of ultra-processed foods on weight.
Participants lost twice as much weight when they followed diets made up of minimally processed foods, like pasta, chicken, fruits and vegetables, as they did when they followed diets with ultraprocessed foods that met nutrition standards, such as ready-to-heat frozen meals, breakfast cereals, protein bars and shakes.
In the United States, federal officials have been sounding the alarm about ultra-processed foods, which account for about 70 per cent of the food supply, according to the New York Times.
“Poisoning”
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, has said that ultra-processed foods were “poisoning” Americans, and called them a primary culprit of high rates of obesity and chronic diseases.
UPFs are products that have been developed by combining food extracts with additives and industrial ingredients. The result is food items that are cheap, profitable and widely accessible.
It is well established that the high salt and sugar content of many UPFs makes the products unhealthy, but some research has suggested that how they are processed could also have a role.
