How ultra-processed food is ageing us

A growing body of research into the effects of ultra-processed food on health would appear to support the idea that cooking our own food matters. According to a study of 900 elderly Spanish men and women carried out by the University of Navarra, the food we now categorise as ultra-processed - everything from frozen pizzas, hotdogs, chicken nuggets and instant noodles, to chocolate bars, fizzy drinks, sweetened breakfast cereals and flavoured yoghurts - appears to age the body as well as increasing the risk of conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

In short, the findings suggested the modern diet was likely to be causing the cells to age faster. Those eating the most ultra-processed foods were also found to be more likely to have a family history of heart disease and diabetes. Depression, high blood pressure and mortality were linked with high consumption of them, too. Separate research in 2018 suggested UK families bought more ultra-processed food than those in any other European country. This study found 50.7% of the British diet was ultra-processed. This, despite our notion that we’ve become a proud nation of foodies.

So how did we get here? And how worried should we be?

Modern processed food has a long history. From preserving it in cans (a technique invented almost 200 years ago) to pasteurising it (a process discovered in 1864), we have continually sought ways to keep food items fresh, attractive, safe and tasty. However, during the second half of the 20th century, a new type of food crept into western diets: that was made mostly or wholly from substances “extracted from foods or derived from food constituents.” This food commonly contains ingredients you wouldn’t have in your own kitchen cupboard: things like sweeteners, preservatives and colourings. It typically goes through multiple processes in the factory.

It’s quick, it’s moreish - and it’s everywhere. It’s the mass-produced sliced bread you stick in the toaster each morning; the ham in your workday sandwich; the biscuit with your afternoon tea. It’s the supermarket ice-cream you enjoy at the weekend; the carbonated drink you grab on the go. It’s hard to avoid and, eaten in large quantities, it’s apparently doing us untold damage. The problem is it makes our lives easier. Cooking from scratch is more labour intensive. If you had to hold down a job and look after kids then it was a godsend. Other societal advances came into play, too. In 1970, only 3% of Britons owned a freezer. By 1995, more than 96% of households had one. The first domestic microwave oven was sold in the UK in 1974. Today, they are common place. 

These technologies allowed for the storage and quick reheating of mass-produced, highly processed food, developments that have been credited with liberating people from the kitchen. But at what health cost? Last year, a study of 45,000 middle-aged people led by Paris-Sorbonne University found that every 10% increase in intake of ultra-processed food was linked to a 14% increased risk of death within the next eight years. This was the first major investigation connecting high consumption of processed foods to higher overall mortality rates. The findings were attributed to the fact they tend to be energy-dense, rich in refined carbohydrates, saturated fats and salt, and contain low dietary fibre - features associated with various life-threatening diseases.

The researchers also raised concerns about the industrial processes these foods undergo, people don’t tend to eat them in moderation because they are often high in carbohydrate and so don’t fill you up, The body craves more, so it becomes a vicious cycle. And yet, as the answer may be obvious: eat more fresh food, we still seem to have a population who aren’t able to do that.

Possible reasons:

• It may not be affordable or accessible;

• It’s not as easy for people who haven’t cooked before to know how to cook;

• People have very busy lives. We don’t sit around the table as much as we used to, we might eat in front of the telly.

However, some may argue correlation is not causation. Some recognise that many of those who, pre-pandemic, lost several hours of their week to commuting say working from home has given them more time to cook healthy meals from scratch. On the other hand, in-home consumption of crisps, chocolate and biscuits also increased during lockdown. 

What counts as processed food?

1. Packaged supermarket sliced bread
If it contains emulsifiers or colourings, this bread counts as ultra-processed. Mass produced bread can contain up to 26 ingredients and additives and white bread can contain highly processed white flours with a higher glycaemic index (GI), meaning they are digested quicker, giving you a raised blood glucose level and spiking your insulin levels. 

2. Pre-packaged ready meals
These commonly contain high levels of salt, sugar and fat and low levels of other nutrients your body needs. 

3. Breakfast cereal
These often make health claims such as being high in fibre. The unhealthier ones (we’re not talking about porridge or Shredded Wheat here) are also high in additives and sugar.

4. Sausages and bacon
Processed meat has been classified by the World Health Organisation as a group 1 carcinogen as evidence has linked their consumption to stomach and bowel cancer.

5. Fruit flavoured yoghurt
Plain yoghurt is fine, but yoghurt that contains preservatives, sweeteners, stabilisers or colourings counts as ultra-processed.

Extracts taken by Rosa Silverman from https://www.telegraph.co.uk