You may be surprised to hear that there is currently no universally agreed definition of what an ultra-processed food (UPF) is, which in part adds to the confusion surrounding the subject, it also makes it difficult to regulate these foods as how do you regulate foods that can’t be classified?
It is perhaps first helpful to remind ourselves of the reasons why food needs to be processed in the first place:
Current UK dietary guidelines on UPFs are based on a report published by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) [1] last year within which they chose to use the NOVA classification system to categorise food according to the level of processing undertaken, not it’s nutrient content. NOVA was first developed in Brazil and has since been updated[2]; it classifies food into four categories:
- Unprocessed/minimally processed food
- Processed culinary ingredients.
- Processed foods
- Ultra-processed foods (UPF)
The UPF category is defined very broadly and includes descriptions such as those shown below:
Although UPFs are not classified according to their nutritional content, many products are characterised as being energy dense, high in saturated fat, salt, and free sugars and low in fruit, vegetables, and fibre. Within the NOVA classification system many foods that are typically deemed ‘unhealthy’ for example confectionary are categorised as UPF, but it also contains many food groups that are typically ‘healthy’ such as low-fat yoghurts and high fibre breakfast cereals, thus comprising a wide range of food types[3].
The NOVA system has been used to evaluate health outcomes in numerous systematic reviews and peer-reviewed publications but like most other classification systems it has it’s limitations. The broad food grouping can associate foods with different nutritional attributes which can be confusing and overlook negative health associations for example processed meat and cancer[1].
Next week I’ll summarise the SACN report results and what recommendations were made for those of us living in the UK.
References
1. UK, G., SACN statement on processed foods and health., O.o.H.I.a. Disparities, Editor. 2023.
2. Monteiro, C.A., et al., The UN Decade of Nutrition, the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing. Public Health Nutr, 2018. 21(1): p. 5-17.
3. Dicken, S.J., R.L. Batterham, and A. Brown, Nutrients or processing? An analysis of food and drink items from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey based on nutrient content, the NOVA classification and front of package traffic light labelling. Br J Nutr, 2024: p. 1-14.
MLT Nutrition 