Global Analysis Shows They Aren’t Well Signposted

National dietary guidelines rarely provide a direct answer to the question of what ultra-processed food is. Seven countries mention “ultra-processed food” explicitly. Only seven countries refer to “ultra-processed foods” explicitly.

In the NOVA framework, “ultraprocessed foods” are defined as “formulations, mainly of exclusive industrial use that result from industrial processes.” According to the framework, foods are divided into four categories based on their processing level. Many soft drinks, biscuits, processed meats, instant noodles, frozen meals, flavored yogurts, and bread products are ultra-processed foods. The consumption of ultra-processed foods has been associated with environmental and health harms.

We conducted an Analysis of 106 guidelines from around the world in order to better understand how they communicated advice on ultra-processing. Dietary Guidelines are an important component of nutrition policy and help to translate nutrition research into actionable policies. As an example, a school meal standard could be used to inform nutrition policies.

Author-supplied Food Guides for Benin (2015) and Sierra Leone (2016).

The dietary guidelines we reviewed used a variety of euphemisms when referring to the presence or lack of processing. They ranged from frozen to canned food, packaged ready-to-eat, and instant.

Many guidelines used the term “processed”. This term encompasses a wide range of technologies ranging from simple cooking (such as chopping or boiling) to more beneficial processing (such as fermenting to preserve food), up to the most sophisticated industrial processing techniques (such as hydrogenation, which is a chemical method used to modify fats and extrusion to shape foods). This is not the same as combining them with dietary advice.

A lack of clear, actionable guidelines is dangerous to public health and the environment. Strong guidance on the harmful effects of ultra-processing could catalyze the development of food and nutrition policies, such as taxation or restrictions on marketing to children. These policies, when combined, can create a healthier and more sustainable environment for food.

Healthy and unhealthy foods: How to tell the difference

The purpose and nature of the processing are two important factors to consider when evaluating how sustainable or healthy a food is. Foods are preserved by freezing and canning, which can have a positive impact on food safety and security. Artificial colors and thickeners are used to mimic the taste and texture of whole foods or to mask undesirable attributes that result from processing.

Dietary Guidelines can better communicate these subtleties to clarify the difference between beneficial and harmful processing.

Seven countries use the terms processed or ultra-processed. However, most refer to food processing in a euphemistic way. South Africa uses the phrase:

eat more…unrefined ready-to-eat cereals, oats, mealie meal, maltabela, muesli

Or from Nepal

Eat more wholegrain products and less refined grains.

In low- and medium-income countries, we found that the advice to reduce consumption was more prevalent. In high-income nations, the recommendation was usually limited to processed meat.

Food processing messages Author supplied

The majority of guidelines were based on the Food and Agricultural Organisation’s advice and provided food-based guidance. Over half of the foods that were discouraged were ultra-processed. Some examples are minimally processed foods or ingredients. Examples include butter, meat, and cheese.

These examples of food illustrate the contradictions between advice that focuses on processing and nutrition. For example, meat, butter, and natural yogurt are all high in fats but minimally processed. Diet soft drinks and low-fat flavored yogurt are ultra-processed but low in “harmful nutrition.”

We discovered that “processing” is more commonly used than we thought. We found, however, that dietary recommendations often confused ultra-processed food, dissuading the consumption of minimally processed foods while potentially encouraging the consumption of ultra-processed ones.