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The focus on ultra-processed foods (UPFs) within the nutrition research community is growing rapidly. In the past three years alone, researchers have suggested links between FPU consumption and increased health risks, ranging from cancer developmentTo dementiaand an increased risk of mortality.
The impact of UPF production on environmental sustainability is another area of concern, researchers link increased consumption to increased greenhouse gas emissions.
But some nutritionists and food engineers claim that UPFs offer many human and planetary health benefits in the form of safe, nutritious and environmentally sustainable foods for the mass market.
Nutritional Benefits of Food Processing
Food processing is a general term used to describe changes in food resulting from heat, chemistry or force. In the kitchen, common examples of food processing include boiling potatoes, grating carrots, or using baking powder to rise cakes in the oven.
Humans have been consuming processed foods for more than two million years – beginning with stone tools, rather than the steel or aluminum equipment of today – with obvious nutritional benefits.
“The first examples [of food processing] increased the…availability of nutrients and energy in food, by cutting out pieces of meat and vegetables to make them easier to eat,” explained Andreas Hakansson, senior lecturer in the department of food technology, engineering and nutrition at Lund University in Sweden.
Much of the processing today takes place in an industrial setting, but Hakansson says the practices continue to play a key role in ensuring nutrient and energy availability.
“Today much of what we eat has been industrially processed, even the potatoes I cook at home have gone through a factory to be washed and packaged,” he told the press during a UPF briefing organized by the trade association FoodDrinkEurope.
The benefits of food processing on public health history should not be overlooked, the researcher suggested. Before the rapid development of food processing during the secondary industrial revolution, most food consumed was of “very poor” nutritional quality, we were told. “Much of what we do [today] in food processing is trying to make food better.
The development of milk powder – made using processes such as boiling, evaporation and spraying – for example, has proven a “game changer” in human nutrition, Hakansson explained. Invented in the 19ecentury, it made it possible to preserve and fortify the “precious proteins” of skimmed milk (once the cream was removed for the production of butter). Powdered milk, according to the researcher, has proven to be a “very important” processed food over the years, and is “still huge” in today’s market.
Improved bioavailability and food safety?
Other nutritional benefits associated with UPF can be found in tomato paste developed from raw tomatoes. The crushing, heating and concentration processes break down tomato cell walls, making the micronutrients more bioavailable to consumers, explained Edith Feskens, professor of global nutrition at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
“Sometimes it’s not well appreciated”, she told the press. “Like the kitchen of old… inventing fire and cooking has been useful in increasing our life expectancy and [growing] the size of our brain. There is archaeological evidence of this.
And when it comes to medical nutrition, extreme transformation can “save lives”, said Gert Meijer, chairman of the European Technology Platform (EPT) Food for Life and deputy director of regulatory and scientific affairs at Nestlé.
In specialized infant formulas, processing can be used to break down milk proteins into individual amino acids to aid digestion. “Without these types of products, I dare say that life would be impossible for these patients or these babies. [This is] an emotional example of where I think treatment is essential.
Part of providing healthy food to the mass market means ensuring food safety, which food processing techniques such as sterilization also help to provide. This makes food processing “beneficial for all stakeholders”, according to Meijer of EPT Food for Life.
“As a nutrition scientist…it’s mostly food safety [element] this is such an important benefit of food processing,” he told the media.
Milk, again, provides a good example of improving food security through processing. In its raw form, milk only stays fresh for a few days. If it is pasteurized and sterilized, this could be extended for a few weeks. But in less developed regions where transport and storage conditions are not optimal, liquid milk can quickly become sour.
“Think, for example, of sub-Saharan Africa. If we don’t process this milk powder – and it’s arguably an ultra-processed product [product] – then we will not supply dairy ingredients to consumers.
The “green” question
Discarding sour milk also leads to food waste, which is another reason why experts advocate certain ultra-processing techniques. And not just in developing countries.
Indeed, in developed countries, most food waste occurs at home. In the Netherlands, where Wageningen University’s Feskens is located, a significant amount of bread, fruit and vegetables are thrown away by consumers, she told delegates. But “good processing” can limit the amount of food wasted and, therefore, its negative impact on the environment.
Hakansson of Lund University has seen first-hand the benefits of extended shelf life on reducing food waste. The researcher opts for vacuum-packed whole-grain bread from the supermarket, which is commonly classified as an ultra-processed food. “But since it’s vacuum-packed, it keeps for months in my cupboard, so I never have to throw it away.”
Aside from food waste, there are other sustainability benefits associated with food processing, according to Hakannsson. UPF margarine, for example, has a significantly lower carbon footprint than artisanal butter. UPF plant-based meat analogues are also associated with lower carbon emissions than conventional meat.
ETP Food for Life’s Meijer goes one step further, saying that food processing is essential to enable a transition to sustainable food systems, in line with the European Farm to Fork Strategy.
“We can’t make the transition without food processing. We must therefore continue, as a food sector, to pursue research on the relationship between food processing and the potential impacts on health, but also on the environment. There are obvious possibilities that by processing food you are also increasing shelf life, which can potentially lead to reduced food waste.
But before “very strong” statements can be made about the sustainability benefits of ultra-processing, life cycle assessments will need to be undertaken. These exercises can be “expensive” to undertake, he lamented.
Spotlight on the definition of ultra-processed foods
Suggestions that ultra-processed foods may have a more positive impact on the environment than their minimally processed or processed alternatives are at odds with the views of other researchers.
In a study published in The Planetary Health of the Lancet in 2021, for example, researchers have linked UPFs to increased environmental impact. “This study shows for the first time how increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods has produced more greenhouse gas emissions and used more water and land, even in developing countries like Brasil”, said Dr Ximena Schmidt, co-author and Global Challenges Researcher at Brunel University London’s Center for Sustainable Energy Use, at the time.
Similarly, arguments that certain FPUs may provide nutritional benefits to consumers are inconsistent with research linking this food category to an increased risk of cancer, dementia, or death.
So why do nutritionists and food engineers support UPFs to improve food nutrition, safety and sustainability? They attributed it to inconsistencies associated with the most common definition of UPF: categorized by the NOVA food classification system.
Developed in 2009, the NOVA system divides the level of food processing into four classifications: raw and minimally processed foods; processed culinary ingredients; processed foods; and ultra-processed foods.
The vast majority of research in the UPF category to date – both in terms of nutrition and environmental sustainability – is based on the NOVA system.
But from a food engineering perspective, there’s “no correlation” between foods described as ultra-processed, Hakannson explained, or those that are “intensely processed.” “These are two very different things, and it’s a big issue of scale. From my point of view, as a food engineer, it mixes things up.
ETP Food for Life’s Meijer also takes issue with NOVA, a grading system that he says has not been “scientifically validated.” So does Feskens of Wageningen University, who argues that not all UPF rated products are the same. For example, prepackaged breads offer more nutritional benefits than soft drinks, she pointed out.
As a result, nutritionists and food engineer see potential in ultra-processed foods, but not its most widely used classification scale.
“From my perspective as a food engineer, there is enormous potential in using processing to make foods more nutritious and to make them more sustainable,” Hakansson said.
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