PROCESSED TO PERFECTION?

Are all processed foods bad for you?

Click here for previous newsletters.

1. Counselling Conundrum: a real question from a patient

2. Concise Conclusion: a straight-forward patient-friendly answer 

3. Quick Wrap-up 

Clearly, there are nuances that may not be captured in this format. The goal here is to provide you with helpful counselling tips which often draw from multiple sources or those which are not commonly accessed by busy healthcare providers serving the community.

Counselling Conundrum: "Are all processed foods bad for me? For example, if I want to live a long healthy life, can I just eat only fruits and vegetables and not worry about the rest?"

Concise Conclusion: Unfortunately it's not quite so simple. For example, protein is essential to health and longevity (most adults benefit from roughly 1 g per pound of body weight daily), and fruits and vegetables are not a good source — though they do provide vitamins, fiber, and are generally low in salt. If you added jerky, a good source of protein, that would benefit the diet you just mentioned, even though it's technically an ultra-processed food (the same category as instant noodles and sugary breakfast cereals).

Quick Wrap-up: We can look at the NOVA classification of processed foods as a general guide, but one of the core problems of many processed foods is being hyper-palatable and nutrient-poor — though exceptions exist. Something like beef jerky is not really hyper-palatable, and provides a good source of protein, though it is high in sodium.

Dive Deeper

1) Food classification Nova | Nupens

We hope you found this useful. Reply with any feedback or topic suggestions — your input helps shape the newsletter.