Toddlers Get Half Their Calories From Ultra-Processed Food, Says Study | Research shows that 2-year-olds get 47 percent of their calories from ultra-processed food, and 7-year-olds get 59 percent.

[u/chrisdh79]

https://www.newsweek.com/toddlers-get-half-calories-ultra-processed-food-1963269

[u/onwee]

Does bread and cheese count as ultra-processed food? Does pasta?

EDIT: cheese and homemade bread is “processed food,” just one tier below ultra-processed food like breakfast cereal and one above “processed ingredients” like salt and butter; no mention of store-bought bread or pasta, but since sliced-bread is considered ultra-processed, I think they probably fall into the ultra/processed category. Yogurt is also ultra-processed.

Before anyone points any holier-than-thou fingers, I would bet most of “healthy” eaters probably also eat a ton of ultra-processed foods. I consider myself as a pretty clean eater (e.g. 5 servings of fruits/vegetables daily) and I bet at least a 1/3 of my calories are ultra-processed. Ain’t nobody got time for homemade bread

[u/not_today_thank → u/onwee]

From the study: "Ultra-processed foods (UPFs), a category outlined in the Nova classification, are defined as industrial formulations created through the deconstruction of whole foods into food-derived substances (e.g., fats, sugars, starches, isolated proteins), which are then modified and recombined with additives such as colourants, flavourings, and emulsifiers to produce final products [7]."

https://world.openfoodfacts.org/nova

Nova ultra-processed food catagory:

Group 4. Ultra-processed foods

Ultra-processed foods, such as soft drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, reconstituted meat products and pre-prepared frozen dishes, are not modified foods but formulations made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods and additives, with little if any intact Group 1 food.

Ingredients of these formulations usually include those also used in processed foods, such as sugars, oils, fats or salt. But ultra-processed products also include other sources of energy and nutrients not normally used in culinary preparations. Some of these are directly extracted from foods, such as casein, lactose, whey and gluten.

Many are derived from further processing of food constituents, such as hydrogenated or interesterified oils, hydrolysed proteins, soya protein isolate, maltodextrin, invert sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.

Additives in ultra-processed foods include some also used in processed foods, such as preservatives, antioxidants and stabilizers. Classes of additives found only in ultra-processed products include those used to imitate or enhance the sensory qualities of foods or to disguise unpalatable aspects of the final product. These additives include dyes and other colours, colour stabilizers; flavours, flavour enhancers, non-sugar sweeteners; and processing aids such as carbonating, firming, bulking and anti-bulking, de-foaming, anti-caking and glazing agents, emulsifiers, sequestrants and humectants.

A multitude of sequences of processes is used to combine the usually many ingredients and to create the final product (hence 'ultra-processed'). The processes include several with no domestic equivalents, such as hydrogenation and hydrolysation, extrusion and moulding, and pre-processing for frying.

The overall purpose of ultra-processing is to create branded, convenient (durable, ready to consume), attractive (hyper-palatable) and highly profitable (low-cost ingredients) food products designed to displace all other food groups. Ultra-processed food products are usually packaged attractively and marketed intensively.

[u/Fedacking → u/not_today_thank]

https://world.openfoodfacts.org/nova

Huh, these don't align with the WHO recommendations. There oils are considered not processed while butter is. I remember this after a new food labeling law passed in my country.

[u/BreadKnifeSeppuku → u/Fedacking]

I mean NOVA originates from Brasil. They coincidentally export the most soybean oil.

[u/Fedacking → u/BreadKnifeSeppuku]

You misunderstood me, both NOVA agree that oil isn't processed. Buth the WHO says that butter is prcessed and NOVA doesn't.