Journalist avoids ultra-processed products for a week and shares her findings

Ultra-processed food is extremely bad for our health. A major review study, published at the end of February, shows that heavy consumers of ultra-processed food have an increased risk of no fewer than 32 different health problems. Cancer and cardiovascular disease are among them, for example. An American journalist avoided ultra-processed products for a week. She shares the lessons she learned in a report for The Guardian. Can we learn anything from it too?

Take a sneaky peek into the baskets and trolleys of supermarket shoppers. The chances of seeing ultra-processed products in there are enormous. In fact, you have probably also put ultra-processed products in your basket or trolley (unconsciously). What does ultra-processed mean in this context?

It refers to food that has been extremely processed in a factory. All kinds of flavourings, colourings and flavour enhancers have been added to make the product ‘tastier’ or more visually appealing. From ketchup to drinkable yoghurt and from bread salads to granola, it all falls under the heading ‘ultra-processed’.

A difficult task

And that brings us straight to lesson 1 the journalist learned: it is very difficult to avoid ultra-processed food in the supermarket. That sounds familiar to us. Food scientist Jaap Seidell once mentioned in Het Parool that 70 to 80 per cent of products in the supermarket are not included in the Dutch Wheel of Five. Just turn over the packaging of any random product. There is a good chance you will see E-numbers or strange, unpronounceable words on it. Those are all signs of ultra-processing.

The journalist immediately has trouble finding an alternative to her beloved soy creamer, for example. Her familiar variety contains maltodextrin, soy lecithin and locust bean gum, among other things, and she was not allowed to have that during the week. Avoiding ultra-processed food in the supermarket is not impossible, however. You just need to know how to do it smartly. Fortunately, there are plenty of tips for that.

Paying for healthy food

Another lesson the journalist learned: ultra-processed food is cheap. In other words, it is often incredibly expensive to buy healthy, unprocessed products. Take the ice cream aisle. A great many tubs of ice cream found there are ultra-processed. Would you like healthier ice cream? Ice cream that has not undergone a huge amount of processing? Then you can easily pay an extra 2 to 3 euros per tub.

That immediately brings up a widely known problem: with the inflation of recent years, it is not a given for many households that they can simply spend extra money. In this case, ultra-processed food is nevertheless a more attractive alternative. Unfortunately, it almost seems like a negative spiral that we cannot simply escape.

(Un)healthy when eating out

You can avoid ultra-processed food in the supermarket itself. But what if you eat out? You have no control over the products restaurants, coffee bars, lunch spots and cafés use in their dishes. Now, you can hope that a good hospitality business buys as many fresh ingredients as possible and uses as few ready-made packets and sachets as possible. Still, you can never be completely sure.

That is also something the journalist came up against. What is the alternative? Stop going out for lunch, even though you genuinely enjoy it? The only thing you can do is conduct thorough research. Perhaps a chef or member of staff can tell you something about it. But then again… Shouldn’t eating out simply be relaxing too?

An ”industrially formulated edible substance”

In her report, the journalist draws two conclusions that make your brain ache. The first: ultra-processed food is not really food at all. It does not consist of food, but of products extracted from food (fats, starches, added sugars) and additives. On Wikipedia, she reads a definition of ultra-processed food that makes your neck hairs stand on end: ”Ultra-processed food is an industrially formulated edible substance”. Er, enjoy your meal?!

It also makes her realise just how much power manufacturers have. We people decide what we do and do not put into our mouths, but producers do not seem to care that much about exactly what goes into our mouths. As long as we buy it.

Physically better?

Then the question: what did she notice physically during this week without ultra-processed products? Not much yet. She did not immediately feel noticeably better. But, she admits, she will probably have to continue this good habit for longer. Not impossible, but a major challenge? Absolutely.

Also read:

• Dutch cuisine criticised: this is what we think of it ourselves
• Consumers’ Association: most fish substitutes are not as healthy as real fish
• Bad food for your brain: watch out for these 5 culprits

Source: The Guardian