To wonder exactly what Ultra Processed Foods are? As in a list?

[tentosix]

So watched the TV program 'what are we feeding our kids' and horrified like most parents, but why didn't it list them? Or give a better idea than having loads of ingredients. Is sugar bad for you in moderation (I have a teaspoon on my morning porridge). Bread? White/brown/whole meal/seeded?

McDonald's are just beef aren't they?

Nuggets I get, and presumably hash browns?

I need a list just to get me started

If you read the ingredients and it is a list of things you recognise and in your cupboard at home, it’s probably not ultra processed (might be processed though).

If it has a whole load of chemicals, additives and E numbers then it’s ultra processed.

If you buy single raw natural ingredients and cook from scratch at home you can easily avoid ultra processed food. If it comes ready made in a packet, its probably ultra processed.

E.g.a home made sponge cake will contain 4 ingredients: flour, egg, sugar and butter.

A shop bought packaged one will have various additives, many to prolongue shelf life, to cut cost (cheap processed fats instead of butter for example), to artificially imitate textures and flavours that are provided by more expensive/better quality natural ingredients.

You can't ask people to list them, there will be thousands upon thousands of such products available.

For example, bread you make at home - there’s processing involved but not ultra processing.
A Warburtons burger bun that has emulsifiers, E numbers, colours, preservatives etc etc is ultra processed.

It’s to do with how the foods are made as well as how many ingredients there are in them. A lot of supermarket bread for example, has added vitamins and preservatives and has multiple layers for processing. If you take flour, yeast and water you can make a loaf, but I guarantee there’s more than that in your supermarket bread. Things that are easier to spot are pizza, chicken nuggets, a lot of burgers even your breakfast bars and cereals can be ultra processed. Look on the back of the packaging and you will see an absolutely massive list of ingredients and you will know it’s ultra processed.

I’m still baffled by yogurt being UPF. Shouldn’t be so surprised really. I live a mile away from a huge dairy farm. I also had no idea of modern dairy farming techniques.

As I understand it there are basically three categories:

Unprocessed - food that hasn’t undergone any treatment, so raw fruits and veggies, nuts, eggs, etc.

Processed - food that has undergone some form of treatment but hasn’t had anything added to it, like bread / cheese / cured meat etc

Ultra processed - food that has additives, particularly things you wouldn’t add to home cooked food (like colouring, flavouring, preservatives). This is things like:

Ready meals
Jars of pasta sauce
Most sliced bread
Cereal
Sausages
Cakes and biscuits
Crisps
Baked beans

The list would be too long if it included everything, but I think a good rule of thumb is to check the ingredients list - if it contains anything you wouldn’t / couldn’t add to food you made at home yourself, it’s ultra processed.

It's real easy to know what foods are processed

If didn't make it yourself, its ultra processed

I think Dr Chatterjee categorises it as anything that you didn’t make yourself and that has more than 5 ingredients. And any of those ingredients must also follow the same rule.

So last nights homemade pizza had more than five ingredients (flour, olive oil, salt, yeast, cheese, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach etc ). But a bought pizza would be ultra processed.

Similarly a homemade cake, loaf of bread, pasta sauce (I could go on and on!) would all be ok as they’re made from raw, not ultra processed ingredients. But shop bought they would all be ultra processed.

Not strictly true Elizabeth. If I buy bread from the organic bakery down the road that’s processed. If I buy it from Hovis it’s ultra processed. If I buy plain yoghurt from a supermarket it’s processed. If I buy a Muller fruit corner it’s ultra processed. If I buy Shredded Wheat that’s processed. If I buy Coco Pops it’s ultra processed.

@DobbyTheHouseElk

I’m still baffled by yogurt being UPF. Shouldn’t be so surprised really. I live a mile away from a huge dairy farm. I also had no idea of modern dairy farming techniques.

Is it? Or does it depend on which yogurt? Flavoured? Absolutely. Plain white natural yogurt? I wouldn't think so🤔

Does it stack up to say "could I buy it in the 60s?"

Might be a good shortcut

@elizabethdraper

It's real easy to know what foods are processed

If didn't make it yourself, its ultra processed

That's not true though is it?

Pretty sure 80% of my cupboards would count as ultra processed.

Yes - I do have raw meat in the freezer, and porridge oats, and a bread maker.

But also packet stuffing, gravy granules, cheerios, penguin biscuits etc.

As above. Just cause it’s shop bought doesn’t automatically equate ultra processed. Eg the much cited pasta sauce from this thread: Waitrose sell a lovely organic jar pasta sauce which has tomatoes, onions, garlic and basil: www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/mr-organic-basilico-pasta-sauce/492794-600576-600577

Just takes a bit more searching and buying from eg local artisan bakery. Though yes generally just make it myself.

world.openfoodfacts.org/brands

I found this from a Guardian link. It does take a while to open but you can look up products to see if they've been classified.

It's more that if the ingredients contain stuff you couldn't use in home cooking then it's probably UPF. So oven chips that are potato and oil are different to those coated with flavourings.

So posh peanut butter that contains
Roasted peanuts, palm oil, brown sugar and salt is ok? I know palm oil is shit but it's not manufactured.

So 4 ingredients that look real. I'll go for that.

DS2 has brioche and Biscoff spread for breakfast but is skinny as a rake. ☹️

Yoghurt - plain yoghurt is processed www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/255994993

Yoghurts aimed at kids are usually ultra processed www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/302328963
In addition to the milk and lactic cultures needed for yoghurt, kids yoghurt has added sugar and:
Modified Manioc and Maize Starch, Calcium Citrate, Natural Flavouring, Stabiliser: Guar Gum, Acid: Citric Acid, Preservative: Potassium Sorbate

I think that's the gist of it, yes. Not sure about palm oil as I've only been reading about UPF in the last few days.

DS2 has brioche and Biscoff spread for breakfast but is skinny as a rake. ☹️

I had salads for every lunch and was fat as... I don't know😂 It's not rule that eating upf makes you fat. It doesn't make your body happy, but doesn't have to mean visible fat

@DarcyLewis

Yoghurt - plain yoghurt is processed www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/255994993

Yoghurts aimed at kids are usually ultra processed www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/302328963
In addition to the milk and lactic cultures needed for yoghurt, kids yoghurt has added sugar and:
Modified Manioc and Maize Starch, Calcium Citrate, Natural Flavouring, Stabiliser: Guar Gum, Acid: Citric Acid, Preservative: Potassium Sorbate

Yeah, that I fully agree with. You can't really get away from the small process (i make my own and still have to boil and cool), but normal isn't upf.

It's more that if the ingredients contain stuff you couldn't use in home cooking then it's probably UPF.

I’d agree with that as a general rule.

Although there’s some foods that I’m a bit confused about.

I’ve eaten a bag of ready salted crisps with lunch today - the ingredient list is potatoes, vegetable oil (sunflower and rapeseed), and salt - a small ingredient list, all the sort of ingredients you might expect to find in a home kitchen. But it’d be really hard to make crisps at home, how could you slice the potatoes that thinly without specialist equipment?
So are they processed or ultra-processed?

McDonald's are just beef aren't they?

😂

McDonald’s used to cook their fries in beef dripping, the joke in the food industry was that “there’s more meat in the fries than the burgers”

The programme should have made it more clear what foods are UPFs because some people obviously don't understand.

This article has more detail about minimally processed/processed/ultra processed foods.

@SixDegrees

It's more that if the ingredients contain stuff you couldn't use in home cooking then it's probably UPF.

I’d agree with that as a general rule.

Although there’s some foods that I’m a bit confused about.

I’ve eaten a bag of ready salted crisps with lunch today - the ingredient list is potatoes, vegetable oil (sunflower and rapeseed), and salt - a small ingredient list, all the sort of ingredients you might expect to find in a home kitchen. But it’d be really hard to make crisps at home, how could you slice the potatoes that thinly without specialist equipment?
So are they processed or ultra-processed?

Just potatoes, oil and salt = processed.

Crisps aimed at kids are usually ultra processed eg Skips www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/295709926
Ingredients:
Tapioca Starch, Sunflower Oil (32%), Maize Flour, Prawn Cocktail Flavour [Sugar, Salt, Natural Flavourings, Acid: Citric Acid, Dried Onion, Natural Vinegar Flavouring, Potassium Chloride, Yeast Extract, Spice, Dried Tomato, Natural Pepper Flavourings, Colour: Paprika Extract], Rice Protein, Sugar, Salt, Colour: Paprika Extract