What is the difference between processed, ultraprocessed, and not processed foods?

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Tagged biology because it’s related to health studies.

I keep seeing that “processed” and “ultraprocessed” foods hurt longevity and cause all sorts of risks. I get what that means in a very general sense – e.g. don’t eat Doritos every day – but this terminology seems really mushy when you push on it, kind of like with “organic” and “genetically-modified.” Please help me understand what the actual guidance is, rather than just panic about how everything is processed.

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The most widely reference classification is ‘NOVA’ (see [here](https://ecuphysicians.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/78/2021/07/NOVA-Classification-Reference-Sheet.pdf)):

> **Unprocessed** or **Natural foods** are obtained directly from plants or animals and do not undergo any alteration following their removal from nature.

> **Minimally processed** foods are natural foods that have been submitted to cleaning, removal of inedible or unwanted parts, fractioning, grinding, drying, fermentation, pasteurization, cooling, freezing, or other processes that may subtract part of the food, but which do not add oils, fats, sugar, salt or other substances to the original food.

> **Processed** foods are products manufactured by industry with the use of salt, sugar, oil or other substances (Group 2) added to natural or minimally processed foods (Group 1) to preserve or to make them more palatable. They are derived directly from foods and are recognized as versions of the original foods. They are usually consumed as a part of or as a side dish in culinary preparations made using natural or minimally processed foods. Most processed foods have two or three ingredients.

> **Ultra-processed** foods are industrial formulations made entirely or mostly from substances extracted from foods (oils, fats, sugar, starch, and proteins), derived from food constituents (hydrogenated fats and modified starch), or synthesized in laboratories from food substrates or other organic sources (flavor enhancers, colors, and several food additives used to make the product hyper-palatable). Manufacturing techniques include extrusion, moulding and preprocessing by frying. Beverages may be ultra-processed. Group 1 foods are a small proportion of, or are even absent from, ultra-processed products.

(Group 1 being unprocessed natural foods or minimally processed foods).

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