Ultra-Processed Foods: Separating the Real Risks from the Myths

Processed Food: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, with Dr. Sarah Berry

Every week, it seems like a new headline warns that ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are out to kill us. They cause cancer. They make us obese. They wreck our hearts. The message is simple, or so it seems, ditch them all.

But in this episode of ZOE Science & Nutrition, host Jonathan teams up with Dr. Sarah Berry to push back against that black-and-white thinking. Sarah, a professor of nutrition at King’s College London and ZOE’s Chief Scientist, has spent decades studying how the way we process food affects our bodies. Her message is clear: not all processed foods are bad, and the key is knowing which ones truly deserve the red flag.

Why the word “processed” isn’t enough

Sarah explains that “processing” simply means changing food from its natural state. Cooking, grinding, or even making a smoothie counts. The trouble starts when industrial techniques strip away the good stuff, pump in the bad, or break down the food’s natural structure, known as the “food matrix,” in ways that change how we digest and absorb it.

The system scientists currently use to classify UPFs, called the NOVA classification, only looks at how much and why a food is processed. It does not tell you whether that processing harms your health. That is why, under NOVA, a wholesome, one-ingredient peanut butter gets lumped in with a candy-like peanut spread packed with sugar, additives, and emulsifiers.

The three big ways processing can hurt us

1. Adding the wrong stuff – High sugar, salt, saturated fat, and certain additives. Most additives pass safety checks for toxicity, but new evidence suggests some may quietly harm the gut microbiome over time.

2. Taking away the good stuff – Losing fiber and plant compounds like polyphenols that help protect us from disease.

3. Destroying the food matrix – Grinding or refining food changes how quickly we digest it, how much we absorb, and how full we feel afterward.

A 1977 study drives the point home. Participants ate the same amount of carbohydrate from whole apples, apple puree, or apple juice. The puree and juice were eaten much faster, caused bigger blood sugar spikes and dips, and left people hungrier. The whole apples kept them satisfied far longer, all because their structure stayed intact.

Texture matters more than you think

Sarah points out that soft foods, processed or not, tend to be eaten quickly, leading to more calories consumed before fullness kicks in. Surprisingly, an “ultra-processed” hard food can sometimes be better for satiety than a soft unprocessed one.

A smarter way to judge processed food

To cut through the confusion, Sarah’s team built a new processing risk score that looks at:

• Additives (graded by potential health risk)

• Energy intake rate (how quickly we can consume the calories)

• Hyper-palatability (ingredient combinations that trick the brain into wanting more)

When they applied this system to millions of branded products in the UK and US, only 20 to 25% came out as genuinely high-risk, far lower than the headline-grabbing 65% figure. This means consumers can make simple swaps within a category, like choosing a lower-risk cereal over a higher-risk one, without ditching all convenience foods.

Processing can help, too

Sarah shares examples where processing actually improves health, like grinding chickpeas in a way that keeps their cell walls intact, then adding them to bread. The result is bread that keeps you fuller, flattens blood sugar spikes, and even tastes the same as regular bread. Other techniques can release nutrients like iron from grains, helping combat deficiencies.

Why affordability matters

Processed foods are often 50% cheaper than unprocessed ones, so telling everyone to avoid them entirely ignores financial realities. Focusing on that high-risk 20% is both more realistic and more effective.

The takeaway

• Do not fear all processed food, focus on how it is made.

• Watch out for the high-risk 20 to 25%, products with harmful additives, destroyed structure, and fast calorie delivery.

• Texture is a clue, harder or less refined foods help you eat more slowly and feel full longer.

• Ingredient count can mislead, a food with 20 healthy ingredients may be far better than one with three unhealthy ones.

• Look for swaps, better options often exist within the same category.

• Processing can be good, some methods improve nutrient absorption and satiety.

Quotes from Dr. Berry:

• “Not all ultra-processed food is created equally.”

• “It’s not just what’s in the food, it’s how it’s put together.”

• “Only about 20 to 25% of the food on supermarket shelves is processed in a way that’s truly bad for our health.”

• “Processing can be harmful, but it can also be harnessed to make food healthier.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iZl4ZzhW3E