If you needed any more reasons to cut consumption of processed foods, be sure to read this. Ultra-processed foods have been linked with a heightened risk for heart disease, stroke, and premature death by major studies.
These foods include not just junk food like chips, cookies, and soda, but savory snacks, reconstituted meat products, and prepared frozen dishes. Researchers define “ultra-processed foods” as those that contain “substances often modified by chemical processes and then assembled into ready-to-consume hyper-palatable food and drink products using flavors, colors, emulsifiers and . . . other cosmetic additives.”
The main takeaway is: eat less ultra-processed food and more unprocessed or minimally processed food. This is often easier said than done, and even health-conscious consumers can have difficulty determining from food labels how healthy a food is. Some organizations, for example, have proposed listing sugar in teaspoons rather than grams to give shoppers a better idea of the sugar content.