Ultraprocessed foods experts warn against eating
Ultimately, these ingredients have been manufactured for low cost and convenience, and deployed in complex formulation to make 'hyperpalatable' snacks and meals. "This processing completely changes the structure of food," says registered nutritionist Dr Lucy Williams.
Unless you're willing to radically redesign your life, though, it's incredibly hard to cut out UPFs entirely. Industrially manufactured foods are engineered around our busy lives and tight budgets, so it's not surprising we've become so reliant on them.
It's everywhere in our diets, but the vast majority of bread on supermarket shelves, and in pre-packed sandwiches, qualifies as UPF. "Industrially produced bread has lot of refined carbs, additives for shelf life and added yeasts," says Lucy
Whole grains lock carbohydrate up with fibre and micronutrients, causing energy to be released slowly as we digest. The reverse is also true. "When carbohydrate is processed, the sugars within are already broken down for us so we absorb them really quickly," says Lucy.
This kids' favourite, often advertised a being made exclusively from 100% breast meat, isn't always what it seems. Known technically as a 'comminuted meat product', which means it's reformed from tiny fragments, the soft bites commonly hover around 50% actual meat content
Chocolate itself is not a UPF, but the type contained in, or topping, your average biscuit almost certainly is, and will contain refined fats, sugar and emulsifiers. Add the ingredients of the bake itself and you have a problem
Beside a high quantity of sugar and other refined ingredients, this toast topper almost always contains palm oil, an ingredient that's gained a bad reputation for the deforestation caused by palm plantations.