What is ultra-processed food? - The Food Chain podcast, BBC World Service

What is ultra-processed food, and how can you spot it?
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In 2010, a group of Brazilian scientists said we should be focusing less on the nutritional content of food, and more on the form of processing it undergoes. They created the Nova system, a way of categorising foods based on how processed they are. It identifies ultra-processed foods as generally industrially manufactured, containing ingredients such as emulsifiers, stabilisers and other additives that would not be found in an average home kitchen.
A growing body of scientific research suggests a link between this category of ultra-processed foods and ill health, although there’s still some uncertainty around why this could be.
In this programme, we look at what ultra-processed food is, how you spot it, and how practical it is to avoid it, should you wish to.
Ruth Alexander speaks to listener Jen Sherman in California who is trying to reduce the amount of ultra-processed food her family eats. Ruth also hears from one of the public health scientists behind the Nova classification, Jean-Claude Moubarac at the University of Montreal in Canada, and from Pierre Slamich, co-founder of the Open Food Facts app and website, a database of foods that can help you identify products that are ultra processed. Kate Halliwell, Chief Scientific Officer at the Food and Drink Federation in the UK, which represents manufacturers, says evidence of harm from ultra-processed foods is not yet strong enough.
0:00 What exactly is ultra-processed food?
05:41 Is there a risk to our health?
06:30 How listener Jen feeds her family
09:38 Trying to avoid ultra-processed foods
11:54 What some countries are doing
14:11 Chile's food labelling scheme
18:17 Is food labelling the answer?
21:03 Is the food in my fridge ultra-processed?
25:12 The view from food manufacturers
29:16 Could buyers' habits bring about change?
Check out more episodes of The Food Chain here 👉🏽 • The Food Chain
If you’d like to contact the programme you can email [e-mail].
Presented by Ruth Alexander.
Produced by Beatrice Pickup.
Additional reporting by Jane Chambers in Chile.
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[@Nicole-lj2iz]

I think the secondary issue here too is that people don’t cook their meals.

[@josiahcole3186]

Over a million households in the UK don’t have a stove-top cooker or fridge. We really take for granted when saying how easy food is to make, that at some point we bought a chopping board and knife and pots and pans and so on. It’s very out of reach for so many people to home cook meals. It’s really important that we don’t stigmatise the people eating these foods. We live in such an evil food environment where we are bombarded and surrounded by all these foods in a way never before seen in human history.

[@magrathean0]

To cook your own meals you need a certain amount of private space. The biggest issue is likely people being space-poor, the second biggest is people being time-poor. Importing a third of a million homeless people every year probably doesn't help the former.

[@HOPEfullBoi01]

Capitalism. Overworking. Underpay.

[@user-of2co3ke5p]

So cook processed meals😮?

[@paladinsmith7050]

Take always cooked in seed oils and microwaves meals are a big problem. Add cooking in plastic which adds BPA and Phthalates to your food, non stick coatings are also poisonous. Not only is it healthier to cook from scratch it's a lot cheaper, people unfortunately want convenience and will happily sacrifice their health to save 1 hour of cooking a day.

[@msbluejay3]

I had stage 4 breast cancer in 2000. Since then, I haven’t eaten processed food or sugar…for the most part. I eat oatmeal, berries, with hemp (for protein), walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, flax, sunflower seeds, pecans and pumpkin seeds on top. For my late lunch, I eat a protein, ( fish, eggs, quinoa, lentils) with kale or spinach, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower etc. I add olive oil and turmeric on top. I usually don’t eat any dinner because I’m so full from lunch. I’ve read that cancer loves sugar, so I try to stay away from processed and sugary foods. The non sugar yogurt is 3 times as expensive, but I buy it because it doesn’t have sugar. So far this diet has worked for me.

[@ashmeyer21]

So glad you survived it and are able to lead a healthier lifestyle

[@deadeyes4626]

Same hear it’s so expensive and nearly impossible to find anything with no sugar in

[@msbluejay3]

@@ashmeyer21 🩷🩷🩷

[@BridgeStamford]

Don’t be caught in the “cause and effect” cycle

[@happycook6737]

Get Japanese green tea. Make sure it isn't Chinese. Breast cancer protective.

[@TessaAvonlea]

Ultra processed food is the result of a culutre and lifestyle where 2 full time working adults in a family is an expected standard. When women didn't work, they would stay at home and have the time to make food by scratch. Someone juggling work, childcare and the rest does not have the capacity to cook a healthy meal and then also make their own mayonnaise from scratch.

[@ambbergrantham5686]

I agree but I would also include that the culture of "buying" for convenience is fueled largely by -marketing- that convince starting in about the 1950s... Marketing today will often claim something is 'a part of a healthy diet' aka this is the indulgence. Claiming things like cereal are healthy when they are actually ultra processed.

[@shannonpierre8714]

Women have always worked. Homemaking is work.

[@MarkWongMD]

​@@shannonpierre8714You literally just proved his point. NPC

[@roseadiaz]

Interesting point

[@cliveargyle5237]

​@@shannonpierre8714that depends on how you view your love ones/family. It's not work in a loving house hold.

[@BrendonBoshell]

The major problem is the supermarket. It's 80% UPF. Shop in the fruit and veg aisle, 1 fresh aisle (meat +milk) and 1 frozen (whole frozen veg only). Outside of those 3 aisles, almost everything is UPF.

[@surlespasdondine]

Where I live those aisles are huge and the make out the biggest part of the supermarket. I barely ever look at the rest.

[@RJAH355]

Milk is ultra processed

[@BrendonBoshell]

@@RJAH355 milk is only processed, not ultra processed.

[@RJAH355]

@@BrendonBoshell I’d look that up.

[@peacelove7437]

Yup. That’s all I eat; meat, veggies, and my carbs has to be UPF, rice or noodles.

[@jaynecutrone3610]

I was someone who ate ultra processed food every single day. Last September I watched a few food documentaries and I was done. I’ve been cooking 90% of my meals since then. The other 10% is only ordering from local owned businesses. So far I lost 40 pounds. And it’s not a diet. It’s just cooking.

[@swan2736]

Congrats, well done! Thanks for your real inspiration!🎉❤🎉

[@edl6398]

It literally takes me 10 minutes to make butter. It takes the same to make mayonnaise. I think we are programmed to believe so much of these things are convenient when in reality, they are really fast and cheap to make.

[@happycook6737]

What about salmonella and raw egg? I'm asking because I'd like to DIY Mayo but worry.

[@dbwhab4150]

@@happycook6737 it is only on the outside, and rarely in Europe. Wash them beforehand and you're good

[@edl6398]

@@happycook6737 All I know is that mayonnaise is made with raw egg, like Caesar salad dressing. If you keep refrigerated it it’s ok but use it within the time the recipe says. I am not a food safety expert so do your own research.

[@violetviolet888]

@edl6398: Cut your 10 minutes down to ONE with an immersion in the appropriate sized wide mouth mason jar to make mayonnaise. Look it up.

[@exploringim6191]

Would life be so bad without mayonnaise 🤔... I hear people saying healthier things taste better. And making dinner sauces sounds tricky enough. Perhaps I'm still at the start of my story, but I wonder if some thing the industry feeds us are just meant to go. As a mayo lover, I wonder what that would be like. 🥲

[@sv3216]

When I taught in Germany, I could immediately tell which students grew up in the former DDR. The were always 20 lbs slimmer than the ones that grew up in West Germany. The snacks that they were exposed to were not as processed and not as plentiful. They were also not interested in dieting unless it was part of their occupation- ballet dancer or athlete for example.

[@smartguy9101]

I used to eat lots of this ultra processed food up to 4 years ago, I was over weight, depressed, stressed, had low self esteem, eczema and the food was easy assessable relatively cheap and gave me a temporary high. Then 1 day I said enough was enough and went total cold turkey and changed my diet completely, 1st 3 weeks were awful with sugar and fat cravings so I started to go running. I now don't eat any ultra processed food and my life is 1000 times better, complete transformation. Just remember that UPF is made for profit and not for your benefit.

[@PaulShantanu]

This is such a rich country problem. I was introduced to this plethora of packaged ready to eat or just assemble and eat food after moving to Germany from India. In most of India (apart from some big cities), you can only find whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruits, the only products that are packaged is sugar, salt and spices.

[@marijuanahi]

I disagree. I'm from the global south too, and yes it is quite easy to find fresh fruits and vegetables, even fresh meat and dairy products, but most of times it's way more expensive to cook all of these fresh products than buying tacos, pizza, or any kind of street or fast food. Eating healthy is a rich people thing here, most people work way too many hours a day and barely have time to grab a snack, so it's way more difficult to find the time to cook. There is so much more to see when it comes to issues related to food consumption than the availability of fresh products.

[@robertkattner1997]

At present, India has 100 million diabetes cases. Sugar, sugar, sugar.

[@clover309]

I really liked the speakers takes on how to live with ultra processed food. It was realistic, in that they do their best to eat non-highly processed food but accept it is going to happen in special occasions because it’s a huge part of our society. I think this is the balanced sane way to be.

[@ambbergrantham5686]

I'm glad to hear a legitimate source include bread in ultra-proccessed food! Whole wheat germs vs sourdough you made at home vs any 'bread' you buy at the grocery store are not the same. Perfect depiction of whole, processed and ultra-proccessed. 👍

[@embracinglifeinthecountryside]

We try to make everything from scratch if possible. Cakes, bread, sauces, cookies, crackers, meals, stock/broth/soup and even body moisturiser. Our vegetables are grown in the garden, so we cut buying from the supermarket to a minimal. That being said, it is only for families with time as it requires a lot of work. The husband is the sole breadwinner of the family. I contribute this way to cut expenses. It is beneficial for us to avoid UPF as much as possible. For the sake of our health. Also because I don't believe the food corporations need to be any more richer.

[@KS0102]

I feel the same way!

[@DutchGringos]

Keep it simple, so many high quality videos on youtube and TikTok from legit Chefs

[@user-eb9ns8fk3d]

Removing UPF food from your every day diet is a chore. I downloaded the Open Foods app and found it really informative. My dark chocolate was UPF so I will look for an alternative. Tested 2 brands of peanut butter, one of them was UPF the other not, 3 brands of gluten free pasta, one was UPF, 3 brands of stock, one was not. I think it is worthwhile testing a few common everyday foods that you use, perhaps one or 2 categories each time you shop to see if you can make a better choice. The app will tell you what is the UPF component so over time you will recognise what is UPF and avoid it, it is a great educational tool. Thanks so much for this content, it will improve my health with not too much effort. ❤

[@ditsygirl5409]

I live in Singapore and I usually only take two meals a day. I keep it simple by having rice, a meat and a vegetable dish for lunch which usually cost around $5.50-6 Singapore dollars at the nearby coffee shop and then for dinner, it’s a hot meal of rice or noodles with meat and vegetables again with around the price of $6. I wouldn’t say I stay clear of processed food, but I try my best to eat my meals as cleanly as possible even when I know somethings processed food are hard to avoid. I occasionally indulge in ice creams, chocolates, potato chips and bubble tea once or twice a fortnight.

[@ManlyHK1]

Hawker Centre foods are crap n none are healthy! I once had famous fried noodles for lunch with colleagues and the whole afternoon I had stomach ache from the excessive animal fat

[@ditsygirl5409]

@@ManlyHK1 I mentioned the coffee shop, i often get economic rice and zi char as it’s considered healthiest.

[@pynn1000]

Thanks for this. UPFs are hard to avoid. I like the idea of warnings on packaged UPFs. They may have to change as we know more - so what's new? Eggs have changed on the simple, clunky "A-E" system from "D" to "A" with clear explanations available about why. At the moment both real bread and UPF versions are "A".

[@NCHLTII]

Looking at the ingredients on the back is a good way to identify

[@PetLover-Kh]

Try to eat fresh veggies and fruits. Also avoid those UPFs as much as possible. Luckily I do not like to eat those strong processed food.

[@pieinsky3142]

A more helpful label would be one that certifies "no ultra processed foods", like we have for organic foods.

[@russbuttypennyblackblade]

Around 12%, or one in eight, US adults have now tried a weight-loss drug like Wegovy / Ozempic, Zepbound or Mounjaro, according to a new poll, and about 6% are currently taking one. Over 40% of adults in the US are now obese. The majority of those using the drugs (61%) are using them to treat a chronic condition like diabetes or heart disease. Just over 40% are diabetics.

[@VamanosLetsgo]

A friend of mine shared that she tried one of these GLP-1 drugs (I don't remember which) and quickly came off. She couldn't tolerate the side effects. People are singing their praises (because some achieve weight loss), but that's only one aspect of using these drugs.

[@rich1217]

I lost 2 stone in 2 months on semaglutide building the dose up when I needed to. The first two weeks give stomach cramps but a minor sacrifice for the long term health goals

[@teresamurray9344]

Ozempic is not a drug. It is a peptide that your body produces itself.

[@MarijkeWillemsen990]

I realize that all my life I ate almost no processed foods! Without difficulty. The main processed food that I ate was bread, sometimes pasta. I always cook from scratch what by the way can be very quick and easy if you stick to meat, fish, chicken and beans, (frozen) vegetables and eggs, chess, fruit (no fruit juice, no sugars). You can stew meat or slow cook in the oven for days at the time and vacuum the portions but also quick meat, 5 minutes on the stove. I also use a bread machine.

[@DarthCarnivore]

Good job again on the continued improvements, Lynn! In terms of salt, I tried a full week without any electrolytes several months ago and felt not not as alert; felt better with the (unflavored Re-Lyte) electrolytes but I find I dont need as much now (4 scoops now vs 8 scoops daily months ago). I also made my own copycat Re-Lyte to save on costs and decided to play around with the sodium to potassium ratio from Re-Lyte's 2-to-1 to the Salt Fix author's recommended 1-to-1 ratio but noticed for a few straight nights doing this my heart racing at night and not getting as good of sleep, so i went back to the original 2-to-1 ratio, and everything went back to normal for me.

[@justrosy5]

PFAS. Look it up. Weep. Get angry. Then look for safer replacements for the things/foods you use the most.

[@operamom3303]

We need to retrain ourselves to stop scrolling on social media and take time to prepare whole fresh foods

[@Canq9133]

❤thank you very much for this

[@KS-vj1te]

Anything made from scratch without processed ingredients would not have UPF. Example growing up that’s how Indian food is made at home. I have achieved this now but it needs lot of pre-prepping of ingredients to save time

[@anglo-dutchsausage344]

What cooking oil do you use?

[@w3s77]

Processed food = Obesity. I lose about 15 pounds when I move from a UPF country to a country with minimal UPF. Almost impossible to avoid UPF in the US, it's everywhere.

[@jacksonj3082]

Big Food (Heinz, Nestle, Pillsbury, PepsiCo, Coca Cola, Mars), Big Supermarkets (Krogers, Albertsons, Walmart) owe huge thanks to the US FDA for its approval guidelines and ridiculous nutritional labeling and RDA & average serving size. Medical & health insurance industry is grateful for the high obesity rates and resulting medical conditions due to UPF. I blend as much as possible - veg fruit smoothies, soups for meals - impossible to completely avoid UPF, but blending helps to cut down the volume of UPF. Looking at other consumers in the supermarket, they have nothing but UPF in their shopping cart.

[@TorBoy9]

Here in Canada I would welcome a Chile-style black label for UPFs. If Chile can do it then other countries like Canada can as well. There will be huge pushback from Big Food. Food companies cannot make huge profits through addictive products without UPFs. There is huge profit in making the vast majority of the population obese. Unfortunately society and our health care system as well as individuals must pay the price.

[@TheDaspiffy]

I don't understand why yogurt, beer, and xanthan gum aren't all classified the same or at least beer and xanthan gum. All three are fermentation products. Yogurt is milk fermented by bacteria and is 'minimally proceed', xanthan gum and beer are both made from sugars being fermented by bacteria, but beer is 'processed' and xanthan gum is 'ultra processed'. Randomly grouping foods together based on feelings and then trying to determine if one of the groups is worse than the other seems like the wrong direction.

[@janethm1530]

Thank you for this amazing beneficial program

[@gmmobassir8044]

Outstanding

[@bartoszbrown1322]

The next time you are in a supermarket, compare the number of ingredients on polish bread and sour cream vs what the popular brands... The polish products have very few ingredients compared to the rest...

[@JustFiddler]

matur suksma😊

[@dmt340]

I like the nova classifications , make this a legal requirement !!

[@haveyoueaten_]

I enjoyed this programme

[@TheSimArchitect]

I think the problem, like you mentioned, is that most ultra processed foods have high levels of carbs (including sugar) and fat, because they're addictive, filling and, above all, cheap and with longer shelf life. They could release healthy variations but only proper regulation to provide better labeling and a classification of items based on the percentage of each macro/micro nutrient would help people change behavior, as well as policy that taxes bad food and use the extra revenue to subsidize healthy variations. I personally like processed food for the convenience. If I were wealthy and had someone to cook for me I'd want everything from scratch, but even considering I like to cook, it's just too much to do it for yourself, alone, even when you prepare several meals in advance. The problem also happens with restaurant food. Even less processed food is sometimes bad because restaurants want profit margins and they'll load your plate with cheap carbs, fat and sauces, maybe some vegetables as fillers and only a little bit of animal protein.

[@frusia123]

Unless you cook for yourself, and from good quality ingredients, you'll pay a very high price for the convenience of UPFs. It's okay when you're relatively young, but with age you may notice that you're unusually exhausted, dragging through the day, needing coffee a lot, but it no longer makes much difference. Then your joints start hurting, the pain makes you feel even more tired. You're overweight and have no energy to do anything, you go to work just to survive, but apart from that all you want to do is to eat, watch telly and sleep. Then your doctor tells you that your stats are bad, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes. The meds lower the stats but you don't feel better, because they come with a set of side effects, so now you have to deal with that too. Then, perhaps depression creeps in, but guess what, there's a tablet for that too... So that's a story of life potential wasted in the name of convenience...

[@zazhou]

​@@frusia123 true, that is the lifestyle cycle of modern society.

[@JasS19362]

This isn’t necessarily the problem though - people have been eating a lot of carbs and fat in various parts of the world for a long time and are not seeing the impacts that we are in countries like the UK and the US. Not just in restaurants, but if you go to eat with normal families in places like Italy and Greece; the fresh, homemade bread and extra virgin olive oil and cheeses are always being piled liberally onto everyone’s plates! The thing with macro nutrients is that UPF breaks down food into components and then puts them back together again or uses additives to mimic ‘real’ food, but making it very soft and ultra-palatable. For example - if you’ve ever made sourdough bread at home: one slice is filling and takes a while to eat. Contrast with supermarket sandwich bread, which most people could eat slice after slice of with no issue. Also, the stripping out of fibre is an issue - many cheap supermarket pastas and of course fruit juices strip out what allows us to digest the food and to feel full from the calories we’ve consumed.

[@gringreen6649]

@@frusia123r

[@95AP]

So so happy UPF is getting more coverage now. Let’s push for more affordable healthier options, more expensive UPF items to discourage consumption.

[@SamYoungnz]

What a pity that the industry is so reluctant to be transparent. A pity, but not surprising.

[@user-ge2qd5pv6j]

This is intellectual property rights When you stand in her position

[@ashelfey7677]

I lived in a SRO in the SF we had a shared kitchen we were not allowed to store food or dishes in we had mini fridges and microwaves in our room but we were not allowed to rules in our HUD lease to a hot plate. Basically haul your food to kitchen and back including your dishes or buy pre packaged food for your microwave. What do you think most residents did ?

[@ManlyHK1]

No pictures??

[@ashleyambrose1216]

Amazing visuals

[@romanyimesgen6136]

Sorry to say this I wanted to watch this. I guess it’s made for listening, that little bubble after , while it is annoying( I’m going to listen while I’m doing my walking to the loo )

[@hayleywarden6315]

Why do kids need to take 2 snacks to school?? We never did.

[@zapfanzapfan]

2 kids, 2 snacks. Some less developed countries don't provide free meals in school...

[@cassieoz1702]

​@zapfanzapfan yes, but that's not the comment was about. This woman's children go to school in California

[@Haliya.]

I would guess her kids don't eat much lunch or breakfast. I heard a few years ago that eating smaller portions spread out through the day is healthier than eating the same amount in 3 meals.

[@SeanClarke]

Why can't the kids eat carrot sticks, homemade snacks, drink only water, small pieces of fresh fruit, homemade oatmeal pots. There are dozens of healthy options.

[@zapfanzapfan]

@@cassieoz1702 I had to read up on it, 6 US states now apparently offer free school lunches to all students. Welcome to the civilized world if you live in one of those 6 states!

[@russbuttypennyblackblade]

A little over a quarter of users have heart disease. In March, Wegovy became the first weight-loss medication to be given FDA approval as a treatment to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. Less than a quarter, or 22%, are taking the drugs because they have been diagnosed as being overweight, but 38% say they take the drugs to lose weight.

[@rockinathens]

We can complain all we want, but when one buys pasta sauces, frozen lasagna and cold cuts, it's simply a matter of choice.

[@roaldruss4211]

You've forgotten two key variables: availability and price. It's not always as clear cut as you'd like to believe...

[@rockinathens]

​@roaldruss4211 Well, if you find pasta sauce, you can find simple tomato sauce and make your own. If you can find cold cuts, you can find a piece of meat. As a rule, it's better to buy as simple and raw as possible. If tomato sauce is much more expensive than pasta sauce, we have a big problem!

[@LondraCalibro9]

yes. or intelligence.

[@peacelove7437]

@@roaldruss4211 Veggies can be cheap

[@dagam1633]

I have lived in the UK for the last 7 years. The amount of upf here is insane. People dont cook. The lifestyle here, long working hours exhaustion influences people choices ( IT is morę convenient and faster to buy already prepared meal)

[@yasko62]

What’s the difference between buying a processed food which already has salt/sugar in it versus cooking a raw produce with salt/sugar yourself? The latter is better for our health? How?

[@CaponeCabin]

It's depends, is your sugar organic? Also, when you make it, you are putting in just the ingredients. Processed food, read the label. There are fillers, preservatives, added ingredients for shelf stability

[@JasS19362]

It’s important to note that ‘processed’ is not the same as ‘ultra-processed’. A tin of chopped tomatoes is very different to a jar of pasta sauce with additives, colours, flavourings, preservatives. Some pasta sauces might not have these additives (and usually have a shorter shelf life) and they’re fine in moderation, but I would still say it’s better to be able to control how much of everything you’re putting in.

[@agnediciuniene9861]

I never add that much sugar. For egzample Heinz ketchup has 22,8% sugar. If I make homemade tomato sauce, I never add 1/5 sugar to the tomatoes.

[@Twinrehz]

When you make the food from scratch, there’s things you don’t add yourself. When you make a soup, do you add sugar? No, because that doesn’t make sense. In UPFs they add sugar to EVERYTHING. Then you have all the other things they put in it; emulsifiers, modified starches, numerous preservatives. Starches are used because they’re cheap, can be moulded into any shape you want, and can be given any texture and flavour you can think of. The bottom line is this: UPFs are nutritionally deficient, makes you hungrier so you eat more, and the ingredients used don’t match what the body expects so it gets confused - for example a certain chemical that occurs naturally in meat signals to your body that meat is coming, but because it’s an additive in a pack of crisps, no meat shows up.

[@Joyceee54]

When I make vegetable soup, I don't add half the sodium as a can of soup vegetable soup and mine tastes better. They add way more sugar and salt than needed in ultra processed food. They say it's in order to give it a longer self life. But you can buy a can of the so called healthy lower sodium soup, and it costs more. I can't understand that.

[@judithwood6419]

Apple bread and pasta are processed food. I like bread I’ve cut that drastically on the pasta and I have 40 pounds. But I do eat pastries as long as they’re made by an individual bakery, not an industrialized company and unlimited the amount.

[@NeedMoarRage]

The UK has the highest amount of processed foods in the EU. You can clearly see the difference in your typical supermarkets. And it all reflects in the obesity rate and health of the people.

[@ageoflove1980]

Just buy vegetables and potatoes, wholegrain rice or pasta. The best carbs are fresh potatoes because they naturally contain vitamines and even a bit of calcium. Its just a solid base for every lunch or dinner. And you can easily mix things up by getting whats on sale or whats in season. I usually stirfry my veggies to keep them nice and crispy. And add protein to flavour. I like ovenroasted chicked the best, because it basically cooks in its own fat keeping it nice and lean. Just normal legs are great for that. But somedays ill just fry up some eggs. And you can make it as exciting as you want: Go asian with the rice? Just mix in some garlic, soy sauce and ginger etc... Having this type of flexible base concept really helps with keeping costs down. If you make a shopping list with precise ingredients, it can get really expensive if you really want to follow this one specific recipe. If you think more in line with : Veg, carbs, proteine and mix and match on the go you can save a lot of money by taking advantage of deals. This is all kind of obvious but for me this base concept is what I use 90% of the time. And my pro tip: Cook in large batches and save a meal or two in de fridge or even the freezer. First of all, almost everything is cheaper when you buy more. Secondly, having a meal ready for you after a long day really helps with staying away from delivery food saving you money and an unhealthy meal. It takes some discipline to prepare everything yourself from scratch but after a while when you build it in to your daily routine it becomes enjoyable. Often I just peel a large batch of potatoes on the couch in front of the telly. One of the supermarket chains in my area have a special on wednesday where they sell big 4kg bags for just 2.49. It almost becomes a sort of sport to hunt for these type of deals and really try to make something very nice from these humble ingredients. What you put in to your body is quite important so its probably a good idea to spend some time and energy on it. And im not a zealot by any means. Sometimes I enjoy a nutella sandwich or use a packaged sauce, things like that, but all in all its a very small percentage of my total diet.

[@janechapman7619]

Also food hygiene externally and whether foods are organic or not can affect our health, when consuming foods so it's actually better to make your own meals in bulk then freeze them to eat later in the week, as much as possible.

[@danseddon4319]

Most crisps are full of seed oil hence UPF.

[@tyffanypoudrier2826]

Yessss omg it's horrendous ! I make my own cupcakes cookies brownies dough and cut my own meat for cold cuts ! I have been way healthier since I started to do that along with my children! Everything at the store now a days is over processed

[@OMG-seriously]

Many of us have known and have been avoiding foods which are full of additives and preservatives for years , they haven't coined this

[@bobsthea]

veggie these days had all sort of pesticide and herbicide that kinda linger even after we wash it, so, every cheap veggie we have might have "dirty farmers" hand on it

[@frusia123]

Still better than your KFC.

[@bobsthea]

@@frusia123 better have my veggie from my own plastics covered green house at home

[@DutchGringos]

There are companies, what do you expect, only the bottom line counts at the end of the day

[@KaCaro38]

Slow Food Movement forever 💪💚👩🏻‍🍳✨

[@toni4729]

I cook everything, absolutely everything. It takes me little time, makes little mess in an air fryer and microwave. I don't even use a frypan anymore.

[@andymoss4285]

I’m not sure I’m bothered about stock cubes tbh. If that’s the only source of upf in your diet I’m sure you can sleep easy.

[@swedemartyrsonswade]

I've been hearing a lot about this UPF but not until now did I know what they really are.

[@happycook6737]

And I thought I knew what was UPF but never considered condiments!

[@Canq9133]

Some children won't eat Mango because of its texture....but they love mango ice cream...

[@jolenethiessen357]

My kids love frozen mango. Just let it sit long enough to soften slightly. Yum!

[@Innesb]

That’s understandable; flavour and texture are different experiences. I’m an adult, and there are some foods I don’t particularly enjoy because of the texture, but I like the flavour.

[@exploringim6191]

I started eating a lollipop part way through this. It said "something something acids- and more acids" in it. Oof. I wish that there was a list of all the bad ingredients and how they contributed to UPFs somewhere. That would be cool.

[@BBCWorldService]

Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 bbc.in/3VyyriM

[@liamogorman3312]

Back when one parent could stay at home to cook and clean this wasn't a problem. Now both parents need to work in order to survive so they don't have time to cook and have no choice but to buy the ultra processed stuff.

[@kimboslice921]

If you already haven’t heard of deliciously Ella, she has created a brand and foods to buy with minimal and all natural ingredients, defo worth it if you want a reasonably health snack, ready food

[@donaldwhittaker7987]

BBC is an outstanding service. My dad listened to it for most of his 90 years.

[@Neophema]

9:39 How is not eating any UPFs drastic? 😂 This shit didn't even exist until very recently in human history. I decided to cut it out (even though I never ate that much of it), and I did it 100% from day one. Only problem is it's more expensive, but my health is worth it.

[@Jabamski]

It’s good that you’re reporting about it, but what are people going to do about it?

[@raystaar]

Shop in the produce aisle. Don't buy anything packaged ready-to-eat. Don't buy anything which contains ingredients you don't recognize. Most baked goods are hyperpalatable, including most bread. And, of course, stay away from fast food like pizza, burgers, fries and fizzy drinks.

[@sv3216]

When I went to school (150 years ago) we only got lunch, that we couldn’t even eat in school until we were in high school. You went home for lunch and then went back to school. No snacks. Only the really rich kids bought chips or chocolate bars for recess. The rest of us just played. There was only one overweight kid in our school and I think that was a glandular problem.

[@Elspm]

They make i seem like UPF is really complicated to work out. I don't think it's so difficult to understand when you frame the question as whether the product is primarily for the purpose of making ever increasing amounts of money for shareholders. If it is, you should be treating it with the assumption that it is UPF until proven otherwise. The heavier the marketing (including health claims), probably the more this is true. This mechanism is simple - if I eat more of this food, I buy more of it. So large corporations are motivated to get me to eat as much as possible, for the least cost to them. And their commercial strategy is very effective at achieving this outcome. The nutrition labels in the UK were developed with the industry, so it's easy to see that they can find ways to make the nutrition work for them. After all, diet coke gets all greens in the traffic light system- implying that it's basically the same as drinking water. But I think we all know these are not the same. All that said, the difficulty is the making good choices in this societal environment. To make whole food cheaply at home you must have time, a resource the poorest in society do not have. Or you need plenty of money.

[@LuckyStarhun]

Using stock cubes is more problematic because of the salt content and not because it is UPF. Reducing UPF for me is about reducing calories from UPF, and not about eliminating specific ultraprocessed foods from m'y diet. A stock cube has hardly any calories but a bag of chips, upf pizza or mayonnaise has a lot... and obviously that contribues to health problems. I pay attention to harmful additives too.

[@happycook6737]

For me, eating hyperpalatable foods like a stock cube ratchet up my cravings astronomically! If I avoid stock cubes my cravings are less. How do I know? I went whole foods minimally processed plant based no added oil, no sugar. I got near my goal weight but still suffered from cravings. Then I quit stock cubes. It was hard but helped me eat less naturally. Not sure if is true for everyone.

[@nick_vash]

A darn interesting program But I'm going to grill some meat now 😂

[@rafaelgelpi2718]

Are sardines canned in olive oil or in their own juices ultra processed?

[@mjs28s]

Intro "what if I were to tell you that more than half the calories you consume are from ultra-processed foods?" I would tell you nope. I get 80% or more of my calories from whole plant foods. People just make terrible choices when they shop. Eating healthy is not hard not is avoiding processed foods.

[@tragicevans4157]

Everything that is in sealed package it's not food.

[@twchau326]

On what grounds we should equate ultra processed food as bad food?

[@the_narrative_tv]

@ parties 😂😂

[@CharmyCharmCharm]

What the hell. This might have well been an audio. I didn't watch/listen as a result after fastforwarding

[@kalatapie]

Maybe if people were not being economically coerced to waste half of their day or more at the workplace just to have a place to sleep and some cancer inducing slop to fill their bellies, they would have enough time to stay informed and cook/prepare/shop for 3 healthy meals a day! But alas, the cogs just have to keep spinning, don't they? Mr. Posh needs his new yacht now and not later!

[@sainiamarjeet]

children should be made to involved in making thr food with ur hands/support is the best way to make them respect the food instead of unknow food made smwhere

[@M123OCT]

People seem confused about what UPF is. I like a simple life - if it's made in a factory, it's not food, and I don't eat it. And it is NOT more expensive - once you stop buying biscuits and crisps and cakes etc., and once you stop paying someone else to make your food for you, there's plenty money left for proper food.

[@PraveenSriram]

Watched 14 minutes of this video on my 15 minute break while walking 🚶 around the store 🏬 at 4.1 mph.

[@yvonne495]

It is really hard to find real food in the store. As a petson trying ro drastically reduce upfs. I stand in the stores and don't know what to buy on s budget.

[@CaponeCabin]

The US, it's probably 98% of what people eat

[@EcomCarl]

It's eye-opening to see the prevalence of ultra-processed foods in our diets! 🍔🥤 Cooking from scratch and opting for whole, minimally processed foods are key steps towards a healthier lifestyle.

[@lozanojavier]

During the pandemic our health markers went up bc we were forced to cook, even if it wasn’t all whole foods. Now we are back to our old behaviours and markers are down again. Time is the key ingredient and most people can’t afford it. Our society is designed to keep us busy and unable to find time to cook, learn and improve the was we eat everyday. We are what we eat, and what we eat is making us sick and in some cases killing us. Do what you can and grow from there.

[@waelqudimat6892]

“How do you know which foods are processed?” You’ve got to be kidding… I guess in this day and age you can’t blame urban dwellers for not knowing what natural foods look like

[@Emily-ww6jr]

I would love to know how much restaurant (not fast food) is UPF!

[@happycook6737]

In the USA nearly all restaurant food is UHP unless they scratch cook. Very few places scratch cook.

[@superfoodq]

If I owned a supermarket, ultra processed food would had been ban. I wouldn’t sold it to people. We need stickers on products saying “ultra processed “. In Israel they mark food with high sugar “contain high amounts of sugar” but people still buy them. Ultra processed food should be ban!

[@heroicsquirrel3195]

I only eat fresh foods, raw vegetable and bean salads with healthy dressing, fresh fruits, clean meat, eggs and nuts, no more cakes, beer, sweets, bread, sauces, fizzy drinks etc

[@krista-kv]

What is the name of the app?

[@EvilGrinUK]

It's called Open Food Facts

[@jeancanestri5572]

I can't get a straight answer from my food scientist friends on what constitutes ultra processed foods when I ask them. Is it a matter of the number of processes, the types of processes, both? Almond milk goes through a lot of processing, you need to deshell, heat it up, blend it, stabilized it, correct it with extra fat or sugar or whatever is missing for that particular harvest, then you rapidly cool it and bottle it. That is a lot of processes, yet it is not considered ultra processed by most of them. It is 'healthy milk alternative'. This does not sit right in my head and I gave up trying to understand it.

[@NeedMoarRage]

Brits love snacks and their health is reflected

[@emmanuelmendonca3922]

WTF is a box of macaroni cheese?

[@user-yy9hk9od9u]

It's filled with preservatives and other chemicals that are toxic.

[@yaxkuk9602]

In Uk is very expensive and difficult to eat healthy with no ultra procces food.

[@GTOOtt]

I remember a time when we were told that 1 in 4 would get cancer, now it's 1 in 2. Need I say more.

[@pinkroses135]

Packing 2 snacks a day for the kids for school? How about some plain yogurt, nuts and fruit or a good pb&j? Bake a bunch of meatballs and throw some fruit/vegetables with it? Just quarter a dinner.

[@ecoworrier]

28:20 In simple language - its deliberately confusing so that consumers doubt the science. Plus, its best to follow government guideline (which we the industry influence heavily through lobby groups and political donations). Did i get that correct?

[@xspicynori]

I feel bad watching this while eating my instant noodle

[@ting.8252]

felt like my anxiety went up 😅

[@frusia123]

The BBC clearly doesn't want to hurt the fat sharks that own the food industry. Yes, you can cut out all ultra processed foods, it's totally possible, but requires a bit of practice, a lot of reading the ingredient lists, and doing some cooking in the time that you normally spend on mindless scrolling. But it's not impractical, and once you get used to it, it's easy. Especially that without ultra processed foods you suddenly have a lot more energy 😊

[@zazhou]

Yes, eat whole foods with a perishable life and not food in packets with a long shelf life.