Not all processed and ultraprocessed foods affect our health in the same way. Although the damages of this type of food have been contrasted on numerous occasions, many experts remember that terms such as “processed” and “ultraprocessed” are nothing more than broad categories that can be orientative but sometimes hide a more complex reality.
What is an ultraprocess? The first issue we should consider is the question of what is an ultraprocess food? There is no universal response, but the answer is relatively intuitive and we can guide ourselves by the definitions made by experts in the field. An example of this is the so -called Nova classification, used by FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
The first category in this classification (Nova1) is reserved for unprocessed or minimally processed foods. The fruit or raw vegetable would be examples of this type of food.
A second category (Nova2) is reserved for processed culinary ingredients. This category refers to usual products such as oil, sugar, salt or butter, usually employed in the elaboration of dishes but not consumed alone.
Processed and outrage. The two key categories in this context are that of the defendants (NOVA3) and ultra -processed (Nova4). The first of these categories includes foods with intermediate processing, such as legumes and canned fruit, sausages or some smoked foods.
An article published last year in the magazine BMJ (British Medical Journal) he remembered that, although considering this category at a general level, we find evidence that the ultra -process consumption can be linked to a lower life expectancy, the relationship was more complex.
Not all the same. We tend to consider that ultraprocessed, in general, are less healthy, dense foods in calories and poor in other nutrients. However, even within this category we can find high diversity.
An article published last year in the magazine BMJ (British Medical Journal) he remembered that, although considering this category at a general level, we find evidence that the ultra -process consumption can be linked to a lower life expectancy, the relationship was more complex.
Three tips to choose better. In a recent article in The Conversation, Clare Collins, an expert in nutrition and dietary at the University of Newcastle, in Australia, gave some clues about how we can choose processed foods, and even ultraprocessed, which less risk suppose for our health.
The first of the tips is to take time to read the list of product ingredients. The expert recommends looking for those products with less additives and “ingredients that could be found in the kitchen of a house.” It should be remembered that sometimes additives lists hide common products that we do in our kitchens under names or codes, so we cannot assume that all additives are harmful, but the amount of these can give us a clue about the product’s elaboration process.
Regarding the label, Collins also recommends looking at the additional information given by products labels. In Spain, for example, we would have the Code Nutriscore that, although it is far from being perfect, it can help us in our decision.
Habit. Collins’s third and last advice is “to think about what we eat a product.” Consuming ultraprocessed occasionally will not put our well -being at risk, it is usually doing so when we incur a higher risk. That is why the expert recommends focusing our efforts on those products that we consume once or more per week.
In WorldOfSoftware | To the question of whether ultraprocessed foods are as bad as they have told us, science still has no clear answer
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