My friend Nancy recently asked about a jar of “light mayo” whose first and third ingredients were water and “modified food starch,” respectively. She bought it because, in contrast to the 100 kcal found in conventional mayonnaise, it listed calories per serving at 35 kcal. I would say that it is an expensive way to buy water and flour. Currently, approximately two-thirds of the calories in the standard American diet derive from ultraprocessed items. I would like to discuss the many recent articles connecting illness and ultraprocessed products. Note that I don’t call them “food.” 

The research increasingly demonstrates an association between ultraprocessed items and obesity, diabetes, anxiety, depression, dementia, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer (e.g., ovarian, breast, colon, prostate). These studies, some of which have followed many thousands of individuals for a decade or more, are being published in highly respected medical journals. 

Ultraprocessed items include products such as commercial salad dressings, coffee whiteners, barbecue sauces, hot dogs, french fries, many breakfast cereals, cured meats, sodas, cookies, cakes, candy, doughnuts, ice cream and more. It does not mean you can’t make or buy homemade versions of these kinds of products. If you find a source for a product that is identical (or nearly so) to something you could make at home if you felt like it, it is less likely to be ultraprocessed. Processed maybe, but not ultraprocessed.

Products made of stripped carbohydrates (i.e., white flour, sugar, white rice, corn syrup, corn starch) and manufactured oils that were invented in the 20th century are invariably ultraprocessed. They contain ingredients that change their color, flavor, consistency, texture and, most important, their nutritional value. They are consumed broadly across all socioeconomic groups. 

Ultraprocessed products usually contain ingredients not available for purchase in grocery stores, and which were not typically found in any foods before the 20th century. Ultraprocessed products are characterized by low ingredient costs and long shelf life, and they routinely contain materials such as high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated “vegetable” oil, protein isolates, artificial colors and flavors, and various sweeteners, emulsifiers, and preservatives.  

Ultraprocessed products override normal satiety mechanisms. So can’t tell if you’re getting full. Think about that for a moment.

Dr. David Kessler, a physician and former head of the FDA, has gone on record as saying that ultraprocessing is intentionally formulated to produce addictive products. Would you ever eat an entire watermelon without realizing it? Of course not. But what about a “family-sized” bag of chips? If you could eat the whole thing while reading or watching TV or hanging out with a friend, that’s a clue. Eating an entire sleeve of cookies at one go, all by yourself, is ideal for neither your physical nor mental health.

In 2009, researchers divided consumables into four categories: 1) unprocessed, 2) minimally processed, 3) processed, and 4) ultraprocessed. My goal, and therefore my recommendation, is not to avoid ultraprocessed items entirely, though that would certainly be reasonable. It is, instead, to reduce items in the third and especially the fourth categories in favor of the first and second. The more real food you eat, the better you can expect to feel (and look!). I’m not suggesting that you never eat another corn chip again, or that you eat only corn from this month’s harvest. I’m saying that it would be better if we ate less of the former and more of the latter. How much less? No one can say if there is some safe amount of ultraprocessed stuff, but I’m going to go out on a limb and recommend, for starters, limiting it to 10-15% of daily food intake for a few months and then see how you feel. If that seems absolutely unrealistic then try a 50:50 split. It all depends where you’re starting from. And I am guided here by common sense alone. 

This essay is part 1 of a two-part column that will be continued next week.