Diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, colorectal cancer… but also depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, the impact of ultra-processed food consumption on health, increasingly documented, is the subject of a new study in the British Medical Journal.
A study published in the British Medical Journal links the consumption of ultra-processed products to numerous health problems. Anthony Fardet, researcher of preventive and sustainable nutrition at INRA in Clermont-Ferrand and author of the book “Stop hyper-processed food, let’s eat real” (ed. Theory Soccer) has been warning on this topic for years.
Anthony Fardet warns of the dangers of ultra-processed foods.
The problem of ultra-processed food is not new, you wrote a book on the subject in 2017. The findings of a new study published in the British Medical Journal, which confirm the risks of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, depression… still surprise you?
No. We have reached 204 epidemiological studies since 2012 and we have 80 cohort studies, 55 review reviews, meta-analyses, systematic reviews… they almost all go in the same direction.
There are more or less robust studies, we will always need to gather more evidence to strengthen the robustness. But when you have so many studies that converge in the same direction, we’re not far from reaching a causal link. Proof is reason, when you are 100% sure. It’s a bit like a police investigation. When we don’t have evidence, we gather clues to get closer.
Are we still in the phase of gathering signals on ultra-processed products?
We have sufficient evidence to apply the precautionary principle. Thus, the recommendation to eat five fruits and vegetables per day is based only on epidemiology, not causation.
Are there any recommendations today regarding ultra-processed products?
In the Fourth National Nutrition and Health Plan (PNNS4), the High Council for Public Health recommended a 20% reduction in consumption of ultra-processed products, but this was somewhat ignored. And we don’t know if we are talking about calories or weight. I think the next PNNS, probably under construction, will make clear recommendations on ultra-processed foods.
“This food is intended to replace real food”
What are the trends in consumption of ultra-processed products?
We evaluated the share of changes in the consumption of ultra-processed foods from 1998 to 2015: we noted a slight increase in children because they are often the most targeted, but in the adult population, it was rather stable. The market in France is quite saturated but growth is substantial and in double digits in emerging and developing countries.
Overall, Southern European products consume less calories per day than Northern European countries because I think there are more culinary traditions. But we are still at 34% of calories from ultra-processed products in France, and we estimated in our study that among children, we were at 46% in 2015. This is a figure that has to be confirmed. In theory, we should not exceed 10% to 15% of our daily calories from ultra-processed products.
How to simply describe ultra processed food?
The definition is quite simple and very clear: an ultra-processed food is a food that contains at least one ultra-processing marker, which we call MUT. The purpose of MUTs is to modify the organoleptic or sensory properties of foods; ie taste, colour, aroma or texture. We are into cosmetics and food artificiality.
The big question is how to identify these MUTs. There are four of them. We are not talking about conservatives, that is another problem. MUTs are cosmetic additives, texturizers, flavor improvers and colorings. You have all the flavors, natural, artificial and flavor extracts, then sugars, fats, lipids, proteins or ultra-processed fibers, for example, maltodextrin, hydrogenated fats, hydrolyzed proteins.. these are all “bricks” that result from deconstruction. of the food matrix.
A fourth MUT that is not on packaging is related to technological processes applied to food: cooking-production and blowing are the main ones, and it applies mainly to starchy foods.
What is the purpose, to make it more beautiful, to make it more attractive, to change the taste?
That’s it. They have cosmetic purposes, and by definition, are not essential cosmetics. For example, extrusion cooking and blowing make it possible to create fun, crumbly, crunchy products like breakfast cereals for kids. These are very delicate matrices, very quickly digested and with a high glycemic index.
Another common treatment for ultra-processing is of course “cracking” the food.
“We are creating new foods that do not exist in their natural state”
Who do you call cracking?
We isolate the basic building blocks of food by deconstructing matrices, sugars, lipids, proteins… then we can also modify them by chemical/enzymatic means eg. The problem with this cracking is that it applies to very few foods on Earth. We have very little biodiversity because the aim is to have standardized ultra-processed ingredients (MUT) all year round, outside of the seasons. We’ll crack for sugar, anything starchy, potatoes, rice, corn. For protein, we’ll mainly crack down on peas and soy, eggs or milk, and then meat minerals for collagen…
Then, there are two solutions: either reassemble the primary building blocks to create what we call false foods, i.e. completely reconstituted new foods that do not exist in nature, substitutes. Animal products, soda, chocolate bars, milk/infant formula. . Or, we add these markers to real foods to improve acidity, mask unwanted flavors, improve texture… in prepared dishes. These are the two main groups of ultra-processed foods.
Once again, we are not talking about conservatives …
No, with preservatives, we are not in cosmetics, which does not mean that there are no problems. Here, we are in the cosmetic surgery of food: if we take the example of the face, either we create a new face, or we correct acne, skin redness, wrinkles.
“The longer the list, the less intelligible the words, the more careful we must be”
How is MUT identified on the packaging?
If you don’t know the nature of MUT food, it’s still complicated. For cosmetic additives, usually, there is an “E” in front, but manufacturers have realized that people are afraid when the word E is written there, they are increasingly naming the chemical without the “E”.
The longer the list, the less understandable the words, the more careful you should be. When there are more than five ingredients, there is an eight out of ten chance that the food is an ultra-processed product. And if you do have low-fat or fortified foods, they are almost always ultra-processed, not real foods. No need to enrich: You don’t enrich avocados with minerals!
All this is “food” chemistry, even industrial perliminine powder.
Ultra-processed products often also have very colorful packaging, with characters from the children’s world, there are promotions, individual packaged parts are often indicative of an ultra-processed product.
Why do all these products cause so many diseases?
We must distinguish between cause and effect. The reason is that we have degraded and artificially structured products.
The result (hence the effects) is that these products force people to consume beyond satiation. They often use extra sugar, salt and fat (often added). We also have compounds that never entered the human body until about forty years ago (xenobiotics). We also often have empty calories, meaning they are poor in protective compounds like fiber, minerals and vitamins. Ultra-processed foods also regulate gut microbiota (dysbiosis).
This is an ideal cocktail to disrupt our metabolism and cause more serious chronic illnesses in the long run.
How can we protect ourselves from these dangers?
We have developed the rule of “three Vs” that governs our relationship between our diet and health: we must first reduce ultra-processed products and not exceed 10 to 15% of calories per day, that is – one to two products at most. This is the “correct” rule.
Then, the ratio of animal/vegetable products should be established at a maximum of 15% of animal calories while we are at 35-40% in France. This is the “vegetable” rule.
Finally, you should replace the “real” foods in your diet (the “variety” rule): vary food groups (grains, beans, etc.) and eat at least three different foods in each group. For example, if I eat cereal, brown rice, whole wheat, and corn.
You don’t need to know much to eat well.
“Politicians should raise the issue but lobbies are too powerful”
Is it more profitable to over-process?
Yes, manufacturers want products that do not change seasonally and are cheap to produce. Price wars in mass distribution and the search for products by specific producers have stimulated upstream modes of production with large intensive monocultures and intensive livestock farming. There is no secret: to keep prices so low, we have very significant economies of scale. It is not with agroecology and organic that we can produce MUT on such a large scale.
Taste is also standardized and easy to access. Manufacturers also calculate the optimal pleasure (the mixture between sugars, fat and salt optimized for your taste buds), the “pleasure point” so that these products are as attractive, even addictive, as possible.
Warnings are mounting, what are public authorities doing?
The battle will be won primarily through food education, but it will be a long process. Later, in the short term, the politicians should take up the subject, but the lobbies who are very powerful and who have infiltrated the public food agencies are sowing doubts to prevent legislation on these foods. Ultra-processed products represent the majority of profits for large global agri-food multinationals (Big Food).
But the lines are beginning to shift; Thus, some manufacturers are starting to remove MUTs (eg additives) or make non-ultra-processed foods. This is a fight that will be long and hard. It started fourteen years ago, which is still a very short time in terms of research.
