Replying to @Who Is Christopher? 🇵🇸🇱🇧 Ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) currently make up the majority (73% by recent estimates) of our food supply. And recent research suggests that dietary patterns that include predominately UPFs lead to overeating of those foods (which confirms hypotheses from hundreds of observational studies). A very well done study in 2019 looked at the impact of eating either an ultraprocessed or minimally processed diet on calorie intake. The study was done in a controlled environment and diets were matched for macronutrients, but they were told to eat as much as they wanted. The group eating UPFs consumed an extra 500 calories per day when compared to the minimally processed diet, and they gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks on average (PMID: 31105044). It’s quite clear that dietary patterns that are made up of predominately UPFs as a whole can be problematic and lead to dietary patterns that are high in calories and low in important nutrients of need. But importantly, it’s not necessary to completely avoid them. I certainly don’t. It’s just ideally, we are eating the majority of our food from the first 3 categories and sparingly choosing options from the last, versus the other way around. This is also why putting such a strong focus on getting rid of single ingredients in UPFs is not helpful. Swapping out one color additive or sweetener for a different color additive or sweetener in a nutrient-devoid UPF will do exactly nothing to change this classification or improve someone’s health. The goal would be to promote (and make available the option to choose) less consumption of that candy, soda, etc and increased consumption of less processed, more nutritious options.
#ultraprocessed #maha #nutrition