What are ‘super-processed foods’ and are you eating too much of it?

A group of researchers wrote a series outlining the dangers of ultra processed food and what to do about them. U of A lecturer Torah Kachur breaks it down.

About half of what Canadians eat is ultra processed food. University of Alberta lecturer Torah Kachur joined CTV Your Morning Edmonton’s Kent Morrison on the dangers of ultra processed food and what to do about them.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Kent Morrison: What are super processed foods?

Torah Kachur: Processed foods are things where you make food out of things that aren’t food. That’s the best way to describe them. You use ingredients that aren’t in your pantry, ingredients that you look at and think, “I don’t even know what that is. That’s not on a store shelf.” There’s processed foods. Sauerkraut is processed, bread is processed because it’s using natural processes to change the food. But with ultra-high processed food, basically we’re taking food and turning it in mostly for profit.

Kent: Are these foods where you look at the label and you can’t identify the ingredients?

Torah: Yes, it’s pretty easy to identify when you really look at it. It’s things that sometimes cryptically you don’t realize are in fact ultra-high processed. Granola bars, breakfast cereal, flavoured yogurts, things that seem outwardly healthy or not unhealthy. We know that pop and fries aren’t healthy, but then you look at it and you’re like, “What’s maltodextrin? What’s guar gum? What’s potassium sorbate?” If you don’t have those in your pantry, then it’s ultra-high processed. If there’s ingredients you can’t pronounce, it’s ultra-high processed.

Kent: What’s the problem with this high processed food?

Torah: We’re learning more and more and there’s research. That’s part of what our group’s Lancet series of papers was, a call to action to say these are really bad for us. It increases the risk of colon cancer, thyroid disease, obesity, diabetes, all these things that are so prevalent. These are also correlations, not causations. That’s really important to distinguish.

But we know that a diet high in ultra-high processed foods increases risks of everything from depression and anxiety, all the way to colon cancer and that’s mostly because of how much it disrupts your microbial balance. The bacteria in your gut that keeps you healthy, they’re really important to keep you healthy. They love eating fiber. The bad ones love eating ultra-high processed foods and that makes you unhealthy and a whole suite of organ systems.

Kent: As you said, some of these things are either healthy or unhealthy. What can people do about this? Because there’s a lot of this on the grocery store shelf.

Torah: It’s hard because it’s easy to say, “You should cook more, make your salad dressings from scratch, you should make your cakes from scratch, make your own granola bars.” We don’t have time for that and I get it, it’s a convenience factor.

What we should do is have more awareness. Know what you’re eating and recognize that that’s an ultra-high processed food. There are substitutes. There are granola bars that don’t have all those ingredients that are not good for you. There are breakfast cereals that don’t have all those ingredients. You could take a plain yogurt, muddle some raspberries in and it’s now a healthier version of the flavoured yogurt. I think it starts with awareness.

Then maybe once a week you go through your typical grocery shopping and you just read the labels and go, “OK, what’s my substitute for that?” You can also shop local. It’s a very good way because your neighbour might be a better cook than you and they’re at the farmers market and they know what didn’t work but it’s made of real food.

Eat plant based, that’s something that tends to have a lower ultra-high processed food footprint. Ultimately just try and find those substitutes where you can. And recognize that one of the biggest sources of cryptic ultra-high processed foods is the bakeries of big chain grocery stores. Almost everything in there is ultra high processed. So go to that local bakery, look at the labels and you’ll find higher quality food that tastes better in so many ways and it doesn’t have ultra high processing.