Ready-made and convenience foods are playing an increasingly prominent role in the daily lives of modern consumers. Packaged snacks, sugary carbonated drinks, breakfast cereals, ready-to-cook products, processed meats, and various prepared meals have become a regular part of many people’s diets. Their popularity is easy to explain: they are affordable, have a long shelf life, are easy to prepare, and often have appealing flavours.

In recent years, however, scientists have focused particular attention on a group of products known as ultra-processed foods (UPFs). A growing body of research suggests that consuming large quantities of these products regularly may be associated with adverse health outcomes.

What Are Ultra-Processed Foods?

The concept of ultra-processed foods is associated with the NOVA classification system, which divides foods into four groups according to the degree and purpose of their processing. Developed by Brazilian researchers, this system is now widely used in food and nutrition science.

According to NOVA, ultra-processed foods are industrially manufactured products that often contain various food-derived substances, modified ingredients, and additives designed to improve flavour, aroma, colour, texture, and shelf life. These ingredients may include emulsifiers, stabilisers, sweeteners, colourings, flavourings, and preservatives.

It is important to understand that the presence of an additive does not automatically make a product ultra-processed. Plain yoghurt, pasteurised milk, or cheese, for example, may be processed without necessarily being classified as ultra-processed. What matters is the product’s overall composition, the technology used in its production, and the nature and extent of the processing involved.

Which Products Belong to This Group?

Ultra-processed foods are not particularly difficult to recognise in everyday life if we know what to look for.

This group often includes:

• Sugary carbonated drinks and energy drinks;

• Packaged crisps, crackers, and various snack foods;

• Sweetened breakfast cereals and flavoured grain products;

• Instant noodles and soups;

• Certain types of sausages, hot dogs, and industrially manufactured meat products;

• Mass-produced confectionery, packaged cakes, and biscuits;

• Ready-made meals that require only reheating or minimal preparation.

It is important to note that not every packaged or industrially manufactured product is ultra-processed. Frozen vegetables, pasteurised milk, and plain canned legumes, for example, do not automatically fall into this category.

Why Are Scientists Concerned About Ultra-Processed Foods?

Researchers are particularly interested in ultra-processed foods because high consumption has been associated with various chronic diseases.

In 2024, The BMJ published a large umbrella review analysing meta-analyses that examined the relationship between ultra-processed food consumption and a range of health outcomes. The review identified associations between high consumption of these products and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other adverse health outcomes.

It is important to note that most studies of this type are observational. By themselves, they do not prove that a specific product or one of its additives directly causes disease. Nevertheless, the associations identified highlight the seriousness of the issue and the need for further research.

A particularly notable clinical study was published in Cell Metabolism in 2019. Twenty adults were provided with either an ultra-processed or a minimally processed diet for two weeks at a time. In both cases, the diets were matched as closely as possible in terms of calories, sugar, fat, and other major nutritional characteristics. Participants were allowed to eat as much or as little as they wished.

During the ultra-processed diet, participants consumed an average of approximately 500 additional kilocalories per day and gained weight. During the minimally processed diet, they lost weight.

Researchers suggested that food texture, eating speed, energy density, and other factors may have contributed to these results. This study is particularly important because it demonstrates that the degree of food processing may affect not only a product’s composition but also eating behaviour.

Ultra-processed foods are a significant part of the modern food system, and eliminating them completely is neither always easy nor necessarily required. Nevertheless, the available scientific evidence provides good reason to pay closer attention to their excessive and regular consumption.

Consumers need to understand not only what they are eating but also how a product is manufactured and what role it plays in their daily diet. Ultimately, healthy eating is not simply about avoiding individual ingredients. It involves maintaining a varied and balanced diet that prioritises minimally processed and natural foods.

References

1. Monteiro et al. (2019). “Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them.” Public Health Nutrition.

   Scientific article — NOVA and the definition of ultra-processed foods

2. Hall et al. (2019). “Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain: An Inpatient Randomized Controlled Trial of Ad Libitum Food Intake.” Cell Metabolism.

   Clinical study — ultra-processed foods and changes in body weight

3. Srour et al. (2019). “Ultra-processed food intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: prospective cohort study (NutriNet-Santé).” The BMJ.

   Study — cardiovascular disease and ultra-processed food consumption

4. Lane et al. (2024). “Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses.” The BMJ.

5. FAO (2019). Ultra-Processed Foods, Diet Quality, and Health Using the NOVA Classification System.

   FAO — overview of the NOVA classification and ultra-processed foods