Understanding Highly Processed Foods

ByRobyn Mooring, Certified Holistic Health Coach and Nutrition Consultant Posted on Updated on

We hear a lot these days about avoiding processed foods, but in reality, what we really want to stay away from are highly processed foods. In today’s world, where convenience is king, it’s easy to fall into the trap of consuming highly processed foods without even realizing it. But what exactly are the differences between minimally and highly processed? And how do these differences impact our health and wellbeing? Join me as we dive deeper into the world of processed foods and uncover the truth behind the labels. Let’s get started!

Pizza and soda photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels

What Is Processed Food?

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, processed food is food that has undergone any changes to its natural state1. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health clarifies that means any washing, cleaning, milling, cutting, chopping, heating, pasteurizing, blanching, cooking, canning, freezing, drying, dehydrating, mixing, packaging, or other procedures that alter the food from its natural state. It also includes adding salt, sugar, fat or other additives for preservation or for taste2.

That means that even if we start out with fresh fruit or vegetables from the farmers’ market, the minute we wash, cut or chop them, we are processing them. This is food preparation at its most basic, but it’s processing nonetheless. So, to say, “Don’t eat processed food,” would deny us of eating many of the healthiest foods available.

In fact, the first food processing took place about two million years ago when cooking or heating food over fire was discovered3. Later in prehistoric times, humans learned how to transform, preserve and store food safely through fermenting, drying and preserving with salt3. Since this is what allowed communities to form and survive, it’s easy to wonder what all the fuss is about.

The confusion comes over the different ways and degrees to which food is processed.

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    Types Of Processed Food

    The NOVA classification system, which is recognized by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, breaks food processing down into four categories4. The following descriptions of each are taken from a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 

    Unprocessed And Minimally Processed Food4

    Unprocessed or natural food is the edible part of plants (such as fruit, leaves, stems, seeds, roots) or from animals (such as muscle, offal, eggs, milk), and also fungi, algae and water, after separation from nature. 

    Minimally processed food is natural food that is altered. This can be through the removal of inedible or unwanted parts, drying, crushing, grinding, powdering, filtering, roasting, boiling, non-alcoholic fermentation, pasteurization, chilling, freezing, placing in containers and vacuum packaging. The difference between unprocessed and minimally processed is not considered to be significant, and for both, the nutritional content of the food has not been substantially changed from its natural state.

    Processed Culinary Ingredients4

    Processed culinary ingredients usually come from unprocessed and minimally processed foods or else from nature through pressing, refining, grinding, milling, and drying. These can include oils, butter, sugar, and salt. These ingredients are rarely consumed by themselves.

    Processed Food4

    Processed food is made by adding salt, oil, sugar or other processed culinary ingredients to unprocessed and minimally processed food. This includes canned or bottled vegetables or legumes preserved in brine; whole fruit preserved in syrup; tinned fish preserved in oil; some types of processed animal foods such as ham, bacon, pastrami, and smoked fish; most freshly baked breads; and simple cheeses. Most processed foods have two or three ingredients and are recognizable as modified versions of unprocessed and minimally processed food. 

    It’s important to note that even a dish that results from cooking at home using multiple natural foods, minimally processed and processed culinary ingredients in a recipe is processed food.

    Ultra-Processed or highly processed Food4

    Ultra-processed or highly processed foods are made from ingredients that are usually created by a series of industrial techniques and processes. Some common highly processed products are carbonated soft drinks; sweet, fatty or salty packaged snacks; candies; mass-produced packaged breads and buns, cookies, pastries, cakes and cake mixes; margarine and other spreads; sweetened breakfast ‘cereals,’ fruit yogurt, and “energy” drinks; pre-prepared meat, cheese, pasta and pizza dishes; poultry and fish “nuggets” and “sticks”; sausages, burgers, hot dogs and other reconstituted meat products; powdered and packaged “instant” soups, noodles and desserts; and baby formula.

    The Case For And Against Highly Processed Food

    Breaking down these four categories makes it easy to see that when people say, “Don’t eat processed food,” what they really usually mean is “Don’t eat highly processed food.”  These are the foods that cause us the most trouble with our health. That’s because highly processed foods often contain more saturated fat, sugar, and sodium than less-processed foods2.

    The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that “The processes and the ingredients used in the manufacture of ultra-processed foods make them highly convenient (ready-to-consume, almost imperishable) and highly attractive (hyper- palatable) for consumers, but these processes and ingredients also make ultra-processed foods typically nutritionally unbalanced and liable to be over-consumed.” This is a problem because of their high content of ingredients that aren’t good for us. The more we eat of them, the less we’re eating of unprocessed, minimally processed and healthy processed food.

    Fortification With Vitamins And Minerals

    While it may sound healthy to say that highly processed foods have been fortified, especially when access to nutritious food is limited, it’s important to understand why that needs to happen in the first place. In many cases, the only reason that adding vitamins and minerals to food is needed is because the food wasn’t made from “real” ingredients in the first place or because they were stripped from the food during processing. All that said though, if access to nutritious food is limited, fortified foods are definitely beneficial.

    Things To Keep In Mind when it comes to processed food

    Here are some things to keep in mind when it comes to thinking about the role processed food plays in your life or the life of your family. 

    • Even when we’re talking about home-cooked meals made with multiple ingredients, we have to be careful when it comes to the processed culinary ingredients we use. Using too much sugar, salt, and refined oils in our kitchen can be just as unhealthy as getting it from ultra-processed food. 
    • When cooking at home, look for recipes that contain primarily unprocessed or minimally processed ingredients.
    • Look for a very simple and short ingredient list when it comes to buying meat, especially deli meat, hot dogs, sausage, etc. The primary ingredient should be the meat itself with only a few other ingredients needed for preservation. It should not contain a lot of fillers or ingredients that you can’t pronounce. 
    • Don’t buy products that have a long list of ingredients that you can’t pronounce or don’t know what they are. You should know what every ingredient is that you’re putting into your body.
    • Shop the outside aisles of the grocery store as much as possible. That’s where the freshest and least processed items are found. Items on the inside aisles have the longest shelf life, which means they are more highly processed. The exception to this is what are considered staples such as brown rice, oats, legumes, and other foods that contain beneficial nutrients1. 
    • The way I think about it is that if I’m buying packaged food from the store, I look for products that contain 5 or fewer ingredients. If it has more, I have to recognize every ingredient listed.

    Bottom Line

    The bottom line is that most of the food we eat is processed in some way. The degree to which it is and the amounts that we eat of more highly processed foods are the keys. While there are some health benefits to ultra-processed food, the general rule of thumb is always going to be to eat as much unprocessed and minimally processed food as possible. 

    Sources

    1. Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/processed-foods/
    2. Poti, Jennifer M et al. The American journal of clinical nutrition. vol. 101,6 (2015): 1251-62. doi:10.3945/ajcn.114.100925 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441809/#b1
    3. Floros, John D et al. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. August 2010. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1541-4337.2010.00127.x
    4. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/3/ca5644en/ca5644en.pdf

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    What is processed food?

    According to the United States Department of Agriculture, processed food is food that has undergone any changes to its natural state1. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health clarifies that means any washing, cleaning, milling, cutting, chopping, heating, pasteurizing, blanching, cooking, canning, freezing, drying, dehydrating, mixing, packaging, or other procedures that alter the food from its natural state. It also includes adding salt, sugar, fat or other additives for preservation or for taste2.

    That means that even if we start out with fresh fruit or vegetables from the farmers’ market, the minute we wash, cut or chop them, we are processing them. This is food preparation at its most basic, but it’s processing nonetheless. So, to say, “Don’t eat processed food,” would deny us of eating many of the healthiest foods available.

    In fact, the first food processing took place about two million years ago when cooking or heating food over fire was discovered3. Later in prehistoric times, humans learned how to transform, preserve and store food safely through fermenting, drying and preserving with salt3. Since this is what allowed communities to form and survive, it’s easy to wonder what all the fuss is about.

    The confusion comes over the different ways and degrees to which food is processed.

    ?
    ?
    ?

    ?

      We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

      Built with ConvertKit

      Types of processed food

      The NOVA classification system, which is recognized by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, breaks food processing down into four categories4. The following descriptions of each are taken from a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 

      Unprocessed and minimally processed food4

      Unprocessed or natural food is the edible part of plants (such as fruit, leaves, stems, seeds, roots), animals (such as muscle, eggs, milk), and also fungi, algae, and water, after it’s separated from nature. 

      Minimally processed food is natural food that is altered. This can be through removing inedible or unwanted parts, drying, crushing, grinding, powdering, filtering, roasting, boiling, non-alcoholic fermentation, pasteurization, chilling, freezing, placing in containers and vacuum packaging. The difference between unprocessed and minimally processed is not considered to be significant, and for both, the nutritional content of the food has not been substantially changed from its natural state.

      Processed culinary ingredients4

      Processed culinary ingredients are usually derived from unprocessed and minimally processed foods or else from nature through pressing, refining, grinding, milling, and drying. These can include oils, butter, sugar and salt. These ingredients are rarely consumed by themselves.

      Processed food4

      Processed food is made by adding salt, oil, sugar or other processed culinary ingredients to unprocessed and minimally processed food. This includes canned or bottled vegetables or legumes preserved in brine; whole fruit preserved in syrup; tinned fish preserved in oil; some types of processed animal foods such as ham, bacon, pastrami, and smoked fish; most freshly baked breads; and simple cheeses. Most processed foods have two or three ingredients and are recognizable as modified versions of unprocessed and minimally processed food. 

      It’s important to note that even a dish that results from cooking at home using multiple natural food and culinary ingredients is processed food. 

      Ultra-processed or highly processed food4

      Ultra-processed or highly processed foods are made from ingredients that are usually created by a series of industrial techniques and processes. Some common highly processed products are carbonated soft drinks; sweet, fatty or salty packaged snacks; candies; mass-produced packaged breads and buns, cookies, pastries, cakes and cake mixes; margarine and other spreads; sweetened breakfast ‘cereals,’ fruit yogurt, and “energy” drinks; pre-prepared meat, cheese, pasta and pizza dishes; poultry and fish “nuggets” and “sticks”; sausages, burgers, hot dogs and other reconstituted meat products; powdered and packaged “instant” soups, noodles and desserts; and baby formula.

      The case for and against highly processed food

      Breaking down these four categories makes it easy to see that when people say, “Don’t eat processed food,” what they really usually mean is “Don’t eat highly processed food.”  These are the foods that cause us the most trouble with our health. That’s because highly processed foods often contain more saturated fat, sugar, and sodium than less-processed foods2.

      The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that “The processes and the ingredients used in the manufacture of ultra-processed foods make them highly convenient (ready-to-consume, almost imperishable) and highly attractive (hyper- palatable) for consumers, but these processes and ingredients also make ultra-processed foods typically nutritionally unbalanced and liable to be over-consumed.” This is a problem because of their high content of ingredients that aren’t good for us. The more we eat of them, the less we’re eating of unprocessed, minimally processed and healthy processed food.

      Fortification with vitamins and minerals

      While it may sound healthy to say that highly processed foods have been fortified, especially when access to nutritious food is limited, it’s important to understand why that needs to happen in the first place. In many cases, the only reason that adding vitamins and minerals to food is needed is because the food wasn’t made from “real” ingredients in the first place or because they were stripped from the food during processing. All that said though, if access to nutritious food is limited, fortified foods are definitely beneficial.

      Things to keep in mind when it comes to processed food

      Here are some things to keep in mind when it comes to thinking about the role processed food plays in your life or the life of your family. 

      • Even when we’re talking about home-cooked meals made with multiple ingredients, we have to be careful when it comes to the processed culinary ingredients we use. Using too much sugar, salt, and refined oils in our kitchen can be just as unhealthy as getting it from ultra-processed food. 
      • When cooking at home, look for recipes that contain primarily unprocessed or minimally processed ingredients.
      • Look for a very simple and short ingredient list when it comes to buying meat, When it comes to buying meat, especially deli meat, hot dogs, sausage, etc. look for a very simple and short ingredient list. The primary ingredient should be the meat itself with only a few other ingredients needed for preservation. It should not contain a lot of fillers or ingredients that you can’t pronounce. 
      • Don’t buy products that have a long list of ingredients that you can’t pronounce or don’t know what they are. You should know what every ingredient is that you’re putting into your body.
      • Shop the outside aisles of the grocery store as much as possible. That’s where the freshest and least processed items are found. Items on the inside aisles have the longest shelf life, which means they are more highly processed. The exception to this is what are considered staples such as brown rice, oats, legumes, and other foods that contain beneficial nutrients1. 
      • The way I think about it is that if I’m buying packaged food from the store, I look for products that contain 5 or fewer ingredients. If it has more, I have to recognize every ingredient listed.

      Bottom line

      The bottom line is that most of the food we eat is processed in some way. The degree to which it is and the amounts that we eat of more highly processed foods are the keys. While there are some health benefits to ultra-processed food, the general rule of thumb is always going to be to eat as much unprocessed and minimally processed food as possible. 

      Sources

      1. Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/processed-foods/
      2. Poti, Jennifer M et al. The American journal of clinical nutrition. vol. 101,6 (2015): 1251-62. doi:10.3945/ajcn.114.100925 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441809/#b1
      3. Floros, John D et al. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. August 2010. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1541-4337.2010.00127.x
      4. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/3/ca5644en/ca5644en.pdf

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