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That bag of chips in your pantry might look like food, but according to emerging research, it’s actually an industrially manufactured product designed to mimic food. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) now make up nearly 60% of the average American diet, yet most people don’t realize these products undergo such extensive transformation that they barely resemble their original ingredients.
This analysis draws from experts to explain what UPFs actually are, how they’re made, and why they’ve become so dominant in our food system—plus their significant health implications.
Table of Contents
What Is Ultra-Processed Food?
Most food is processed to some extent. Even baking bread or making a smoothie in the blender are forms of processing. But ultra-processed food (UPF) is different, says van Tulleken in Ultra-Processed People. Ultra-processing doesn’t just modify food; it transforms food into something else entirely.
Van Tulleken argues that UPF isn’t really food: It’s an industrially produced substance that looks, smells, and tastes like food. It starts out as food—usually high-yield crops like corn or soybeans that are grown for animal feed and, as a result, are subsidized in many countries. These inexpensive crops are reduced to their basic molecular constituents, then chemically and physically altered to form synthetic molecules that can mimic all kinds of natural ingredients. These synthetic molecules are then reassembled into something that looks like food and are filled with additives that add flavor, color, saltiness, and sweetness. Without the additives, UPF probably wouldn’t taste like food at all.
| How Corn Becomes UPF In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, science journalist and author Michael Pollan uses the example of corn to explain how a few cheap crops form the basis for so much UPF. He explains that out of approximately 45,000 items in an average American supermarket, a quarter contain corn. It’s in beer, cake mix, frozen meals, and most meat, to name just a few. Corn is so ubiquitous because, since the 1970s, US government policies influenced by business interests have driven down the price of corn while simultaneously pushing farmers to consolidate into larger farms. Because most farms grow a single crop, the only way for them to make enough money to survive is to grow more corn. This effectively subsidizes buyers of cheap corn, like Coca-Cola and Cargill, who can make an even greater profit by transforming it into UPF. UPF corn chips are a simple example of how corn becomes UPF. First, corn is cooked, soaked, and pulverized into a dough. Then, it’s fed into extrusion machines, which are used throughout the food industry to mass-produce all types of UPF. The extrusion machine applies intense heat and pressure to the dough, destroying the cell walls inside the corn. Rotating screws blend and force the dough through a small hole in the machine. Next, the dough is molded into sheets, flattened, and cut into chip shapes. The chips are baked and deep-fried. Finally, the chips are coated with artificial flavors and colors, as well as salt, sugar, and MSG. A similar method can be used to convert a variety of cheap crops into a flavorless “extrudate” that can then be molded into any shape and flavored with any additives to create thousands of UPF products. |
Making “food” from industrially created ingredients is not only cheaper than making it from natural ingredients, but it also lengthens the food’s shelf life and makes centralized distribution easier, which further contributes to UPF’s low price. The lower cost of UPF makes it more desirable to consumers; the lower cost of UPF’s synthetic ingredients maximizes profits for food corporations.
(Shortform note: Pollan further explains how UPF companies maximize profit. He says that processing not only gets people to buy more food, it also allows companies to capture more of the money a consumer spends on food. For example, if you spend a dollar on eggs, 40 cents goes back to the farmer, but if you spend a dollar on corn sweetener, only 4 cents goes to the farmer, and UPF companies get the rest.)
Classifying UPFs
Van Tulleken cites Brazilian scientist Carlos Monteiro, who first described the concept of “ultra-processed food” in 2009. Monteiro devised the NOVA system, a now widely used food classification system that divides food into four groups based on the level of processing:
1. Unprocessed or minimally processed food. These are foods in their natural state. Examples include fruits, vegetables, and meat.
2. Processed culinary ingredients. These are ingredients that we use in traditional cooking by combining them with foods in the first category. Examples include butter, sugar, salt, oil, and vinegar.
3. Processed foods. These are foods that are processed mainly for preservation and sold already prepared to eat. Examples include canned food, smoked fish, and fresh bread.
4. Ultra-processed foods. These are foods made primarily from industrially created ingredients, using complex industrial processes such as extracting substances from whole foods and chemically modifying those substances. These foods are intended to be highly profitable, convenient, and desirable. Examples include fast food, frozen meals, most packaged snacks, most store-bought bread, and soda.
(Shortform note: Critics of the NOVA system argue that it’s too vague to be useful to either consumers or researchers. They contend that even experts have difficulty determining which foods should belong to which group; this leads to inconsistent classifications. However, research also shows that the NOVA system is intuitive to consumers: People’s perceptions of foods and their processing levels generally line up with the foods’ NOVA classifications.)
If you’re wondering if there’s an easy way to identify UPF, van Tulleken says it’s usually anything that’s wrapped in plastic and contains at least one ingredient that you wouldn’t find in your kitchen. He also suggests that low-fat, no-fat, and other “diet” foods are almost always UPF.
(Shortform note: Van Tulleken’s ideas on packaged low-fat foods echo Pollan’s contention in his 2007 article, “Unhappy Meals” (which influenced Monteiro’s thinking in formulating the NOVA system) that any food that comes in a package advertising health benefits isn’t really food—and isn’t really healthy at all. Most experts, including van Tulleken and Pollan, agree that low-fat foods don’t help you lose weight, and generally result in weight gain and other health problems. Pollan explains why in his book In Defense of Food: In low-fat foods, UPF companies replace saturated fats with hydrogenated seed oils. The process of solidifying vegetable oil using hydrogen creates trans fats, which are now known to cause heart disease and high cholesterol.)
Why We Rely on Ultra-Processed Foods
If we know they’re not healthy, why do ultra-processed foods have such a powerful hold on American diets? Experts say the appeal of these foods starts with their convenience. These foods offer what many busy families need: they’re quick, reliable foods that require minimal preparation and won’t spoil before you can get around to using them. For many households, the option to heat up a frozen dinner, an instant soup, or a box of macaroni and cheese can mean the difference between eating a hot meal and not eating a proper dinner at all.
Cost is another crucial factor. In many communities, especially in “food deserts” where access to fresh foods is limited, ultra-processed foods often represent the most affordable way to feed a family. When you’re stretching a tight budget, the long shelf life of these products also means less food waste. And it means fewer trips to the grocery store than if everything you bought were fresh and had a short shelf life.
What Are the Negative Health Effects of Ultra-Processed Food?
Ultra-processed foods are often loaded with saturated fat, salt, and sugar. Yet they contain few of the nutrients our bodies need. Worse yet, when these foods dominate our diets, they tend to squeeze out more nutritious options. The health implications are sobering. Research has linked regular consumption of ultra-processed foods to an array of serious conditions:
- Heart health: Studies show increased risks of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, and strokes.
- Metabolic issues: Higher rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes have been linked to the consumption of ultra-processed foods.
- Cancer risk: Certain types of cancer appear more frequently in heavy consumers of these foods.
- Mental health: Ultra-processed foods have also been linked to increased rates of depression and other mental health disorders.
UPFs Are Linked to Obesity
Studies have indicated that it’s the processing of UPF that causes these health problems, rather than simply the nutritional content. In Ultra-Processed People, Van Tulleken mostly focuses on weight gain and obesity because there are more studies of UPF’s effects on weight.
Widespread obesity didn’t exist for much of human history, writes van Tulleken. Until the beginning of the 20th century, obesity was very rare, especially in children. Since the 1970s, however, obesity has skyrocketed, and it affects more children than ever. Not coincidentally, we also began eating increasing amounts of UPF in the 1950s.
(Shortform note: Scientists often refer to the precipitous rise in obesity throughout the Western world since the 1970s as an “obesity epidemic.” In 1976, the prevalence of obesity in American adults was 15%; by 2000, that number had doubled to 30.9%. As of 2020, it was 40.9%. Worldwide obesity more than doubled between 1990 and 2022. In American children, obesity rates have tripled over the last three decades; one out of every six kids is obese. Doctors generally screen for obesity using Body Mass Index (BMI), which is weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese. However, BMI merely helps evaluate possible risks; it’s not a diagnosis of an individual’s actual health status.)
Experts had long thought that the reason obesity wasn’t a problem until recently was historical food scarcity, often resulting from famines and food shortages. However, more and more studies now demonstrate that UPF is probably the primary cause of the global increase in obesity. One study showed that people on a primarily UPF diet consumed an average of 500 calories more per day (and gained weight accordingly) than people on a non-UPF diet, even though both diets contained identical amounts of fat, salt, sugar, and fiber. The people on the non-UPF diet actually lost weight.
(Shortform note: While van Tulleken says that UPF leads to various serious diseases, including obesity, he doesn’t explain what makes obesity unhealthy on its own. Studies have consistently demonstrated that obesity increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, depression, and some cancers. But newer research also indicates that just because someone is overweight or obese, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re unhealthy. These studies show that people with too much visceral fat—fat located deep in the abdomen—have a higher risk of health problems. But excess subcutaneous fat—fat under the skin of the thighs, arms, and back—may promote good health. In short, some people are resistant to the negative effects of obesity. Scientists are still studying exactly why this is.)
Learn More About Ultra-Processed Foods
If you’re interested in learning more about UPFs, you can read the full guides to the books mentioned above:
