Ultra Processed Food - An Overview
- Selva Karthik
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Non communicable diseases(NCD) such as heart disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes are the major diseases leading death worldwide.
NCDs kill approximately 41 million people (71% of global deaths) worldwide each year, including 14 million people who die too young between the ages of 30 and 70.
India is experiencing a rapid health transition with a rising burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) surpassing the burden of communicable diseases like water-borne or vector-borne diseases, TB, HIV, etc.. According to WHO report, in India, nearly 5.8 million people (60% of total deaths) occur from NCDs every year or in other words 1 in 4 of us, Indians has a risk of dying from an NCD before we reach the age of 70. NCDs like Cardiovascular diseases, Cancer, Chronic Respiratory Diseases, Diabetes and other NCDs are the leading causes of death in India. NCDs are rapidly increasing and reached epidemic proportions, largely due to food and lifestyle changes. According to Indian Council of Medical Research, the share of deaths due to NCDs in India increased from 38% in 1990 to 61.8% in 2016, and unhealthy diets were one of the major reasons cited. This upward trend seem to continue Post Covid. This causes huge socioeconomic effects on the country.
A report “India: Health of the Nation’s States” by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, says that we should not only see major NCDs such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and hypertension but also should cover all NCDs such as,
1)Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases 2) Chronic kidney diseases 3) Organ and tissue transplant 4) Mental disorders.5) Iodine deficiency disorders 6) Fluorosis 7) Oro-dental disorders
The epidemic of NCDs cannot be halted simply by treating the sick, healthy persons have to be protected by addressing the root causes. Root cause is attributed to our changing dietary patterns and food habits. Consuming Ultra processed food is one of the major risk factors causing NCDs and deaths related to it. Reducing the major risk factors for NCDs must be the the key focus to prevent deaths from NCDs which forms the highest death rates among the category.
Many studies have clearly proved that consumption of Ultra processed food is positively associated with obesity and with the development of all Non Communicable Diseases(NCD). Another scientific study has attributed that consumption of ultra processed food has highest risk of all cause mortality rate.
Despite this, on-ground Ultra-processed food has grown at rate of 13.37%, from 2011 to 2021.
While the growth declined during the pandemic in 2020, there is a sharp recovery in 2021.
Based on the nutritional content and chemical ingredients used to process the food, foods can be classified into Staple foods and Ultra processed foods.
Ultra processed foods can be classified into (a) chocolate and sugar confectionery, (b) salty snacks, (c) beverages, (d) ready-made and convenience food, and (e) breakfast cereals.
Let us dive deep into these foods.
Under Chocolate and sugar confectioneries, cakes, pastries, ice cream and frozen desserts are some common things. Examples of sugar-type confections include nougats, fondants, caramels, taffees, and jellies and examples of chocolate-based confections include chocolate-covered confections, chocolate-panned confections, chocolate bars, and chocolate-covered fruits, nuts, and cremes.
In the chocolate and sugar confectionery category, sweet biscuits accounted for the majority share of sale. Consumers may not be aware of the harmful impact of sweet biscuits. They are cheap, ease to store and have a long self-life.They are often consumed as an impulse snack and are available in small packaging. Further in this subcategory, plain biscuits (for example, Parle-G, rusk, Britania and Marie biscuits) accounted for over 70% of the market sales.This is mostly consumed by children and we can see an increase in marketing of such food as being healthier products. But, they are equally harmful as any other Ultra processed food that it can cause NCD related deaths. This is an important aspect because children see marketing advertisement in various digital spaces of these Ultra processed foods and imagine they are good food but the young children doesn't know it is a marketing strategy of the company to cheat them on their future health.
Salty foods i.e food items that are high in fat, salt and sugar or HFSS foods. ‘HFSS foods may be defined as foods which contain low amounts of proteins, vitamins, phytochemicals, minerals and dietary fibre but are rich in fat (saturated fatty acids), salt and sugar and high in energy (calories) that are known to have negative impact on health, if consumed regularly."
Most commonly consumed HFSS foods were wafers, puffs, samosa, ice cream, and soft drink basically things that are sold in bakeries. Nuts, Seeds,(similar to haldiram's) Potato Chips, Tortilla Chips, Puffed Snacks, savoury biscuits and popcorn also come under this category. These snacks are consumed in large volume. The high growth rate in consumption of HFSS can make consumers vulnerable to hypertension, heart and kidney diseases and other NCDs.
Beverages section under Ultra processed food comprises of products with varied sugar levels. While some products such as "cola" carbonates have high added sugar content, there are also beverages such as zero-sugar carbonates and 100% fruit "juice" containing artificial sweeteners and free sugars, Soft drinks, concentrates & squashes, processed juices, energy drinks, sport drinks and flavoured milk drinks All these beveragesare equally harmful as any cola carbonates like pepsi or cocacola. These food also has been clearly attributed to increase in risk of NCD deaths.
In today's world where more people working from home, meals with less preparation time became popular. Ready-made and convenience food's subcategory is dominated by Instant noodles, Sauces/ dressings/ condiments, Milk substitutes and alternatives, Chilled/frozen meat, Ready-meals, frozen processed fruits and vegetables, Soup and frozen seafood have seen a increase in consumption among urban and rural population. These ready made foods are harmful to human health cause the ingredients used to process these foods make them come under Ultra processed food.
Another growing category under Ultra processed foods are Breakfast cereal such as flakes (example, cornflakes) oats, porridge or muesli and granola. These Breakfast cereal is usually high sugar and has a high glycemic index which is health concern for diabetics patients. A high glycemic index can result in sudden spikes in blood sugar levels, causing a health hazard for diabetics patients and the healthier people. While consumers may be shifting to these breakfast cereal products thinking that it is healthy or readily available, they still face a risk of diet related NCDs deaths.
These are commonly found Ultra processed food that we eat in our daily lives. As per a report, premature deaths from NCDs have doubled in India from 22% in 1990 to 50% in 2019 could be attributed to increase in consumption UPF which are mentioned. If we need to break the chain and save ourself from epidemic deaths due to this Ultra processed food, then we need to reject above mentioned Ultra processed food as a consumer making conscious choices and while switching to fresh agricultural green leafy vegetables and staple foods.
These staple foods include grains (cereals and legumes), seeds, nuts and root vegetables (tubers and roots). Among them, cereals (rice, wheat, oat, maize, etc.), legumes (lentils and beans) and tubers (e.g. potato, taro and yam) etc..
The author is a organic farmer for past 7 years and is working on decolonising food for a healthy living at Dr. Richhariya in-situ Rice Seed Centre.
Reference for our article is taken from below two reports,
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