A professor who helped conduct a new study showing harms from ultra-processed foods explains what they are and why we should avoid them.
Consuming ultra-processed foods can cause harm to major organs, in addition to a host of other health problems, a new study published Tuesday in the medical journal the Lancet revealed.
Another report released Thursday from researchers at Virginia Tech shows that young adults are more vulnerable to indulging in ultra-processed foods, according to Brenda Davy, a professor in the school’s Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise, who helped conduct the study.
Davy told WTOP that people need to pay attention to what they’re buying to avoid ultra-processed food, which are dangerous to our health.
“An ultra-processed food is most easily recognized by having ingredients that would not be used in home cooking,” Davy said.
Her study tested young adults who were put on diets with ultra-processed foods. After two weeks, the adults aged 18 to 21 ate more calories using a diet that was high in ultra-processed food even though they weren’t hungry. But this wasn’t true for adults in the 22-25 age group, Davy said.
The study’s results suggest that adolescents may be more vulnerable to ultra-processed foods, which can be addictive.
Some examples of ultra-processed foods include “things like Sunny Delight, rather than 100% fresh orange juice,” she said. “A Pop-Tart, which would be an ultra-processed food, compared to a homemade banana nut muffin.”
“When you’re shopping at the grocery store, if you pick up an item and look at the ingredient list, if you see things like ‘fat, flour, oil, salt, sugar,’ those are things that are typically used in home cooking,” she said. “Those would not be considered ultra-processed ingredients.”
“On the other hand, if you saw very long-sounding chemical names that you do not recognize, that’s one tip off of an item considered an ultra-processed food,” she added.
She said the research released this week shows that these ingredients could be more dangerous than you think.
“Ultra-processed foods are linked to increased risks of obesity and weight gain and a whole host of chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,” Davy said.
She said in order to avoid ultra-processed foods, people should “prepare as many of their meals as possible at home.”
“That might help folks reduce their risk of some of these chronic diseases related to their diet,” she said.
Davy said that there are some advantages to food processing by manufacturers.
“One of the biggest advantages for using processed foods is that they do have a longer shelf life,” she said. “That is an important benefit of ultra-processed foods.”
But she said that one of the big drawbacks is how addictive they can be.
“They may drive us to overeat them,” she said.
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