United States: Multiple individuals now understand that consuming high amounts of ultra-processed foods creates negative effects on human health, as a recent expert report suggested.
Multiple health problems are linked to ultra-processed foods as they cause obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular issues, and cancer alongside depression, cognitive issues, and stroke and possibly result in death before the expected lifespan.
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According to the NOVA Food Classification system, Ultra-processed foods represent food products made from ingredients unknown to home kitchens and supermarkets (such as flavor enhancers and colors) plus manufacturing techniques unavailable to home cooking (including extrusion and molding).
Most people who eat cheese puffs, reheat frozen pizzas, snack on cookies, and drink sodas understand that these foods provide tasty convenience, CNN Health reported.
Customers face two barriers when trying to avoid ultra-processed foods because processing leads to both affordability and increased eatable appeal combined with widespread use in the US food market, where these products represent 70 percent of the total foods available.
Expert’s statement
Researchers such as Dr. Kevin Hall, a section chief at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (part of the National Institutes of Health), are trying to figure out a solution to it.
A revolutionary research paper published by Hall and his colleagues in 2019 demonstrated that individuals following an ultra-processed diet consume 500 additional calories per day compared to those consuming minimally processed food.
Hall and his team are currently performing a new trial to identify the factors that cause people to consume excessive calories. He has two theories.
According to NN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell, “One is their energy density — so how many calories you’re getting in each gram of food you’re eating,” CNN Health reported.
“It so happens that ultra-processed foods are much more energy-dense than minimally processed foods,” Tirrell added.
“And (Hall) says, really, that’s because they take a lot of the water out of them so that they don’t rot. They’re more shelf stable,” he continued.
“And then the other thing (Hall’s) hypothesizing is their hyper-palatability, or we’ve heard the term the ‘bliss point.’ So, it’s this combination of salt, sugar, fat, and carbs at just the right levels that makes us not want to stop eating foods.”