How Ultra-Processed Foods Are Killing Us

[n2doc]

In the current issue of the online Journal of the World Public Health Nutrition Association (of which I am a charter member), Carlos Monteiro, a professor at the University of São Paulo writes, "The big issue is ultra-processing." Because his commentary is so lengthy, I am taking the liberty of extracting pieces from it, not always in the order presented.
The most important factor now, when considering food, nutrition and public health, is not nutrients, and is not foods, so much as what is done to foodstuffs and the nutrients originally contained in them, before they are purchased and consumed. That is to say, the big issue is food processing—or, to be more precise, the nature, extent and purpose of processing, and what happens to food and to us as a result of processing.
Monteiro makes it clear that all foods and drinks are processed to some extent. Fresh apples are washed and, sometimes, waxed. Drinking water is filtered. Instead, he distinguishes three types of processing, depending on their nature, extent, and purpose:

• Type 1: Unprocessed or minimally processed foods that do not change the nutritional properties of the food.

• Type 2: Processed culinary or food industry ingredients such as oils, fats, sugar and sweeteners, flours, starches, and salt. These are depleted of nutrients and provide little beyond calories (except for salt, which has no calories).

• Type 3: Ultra-processed products that combine Type 2 ingredients (and, rarely, traces of Type 1).
more

http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/11/how-ultra-processed-foods-are-killing-us/65614

[Better Today]

1. And then one reads this and has to scratch one's head a tad.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x95516

[TheWraith]

2. Yep. The "processed foods" nonsense is taken to wild extremes.

Yes, there are some things about processed foods that can be unhealthy, particularly in excess, but the claim that processed foods are inherently evil and deadly is without scientific merit.

[evirus]

3. not a scholarly journal.

This website is not a scientific journal, although it will contain contributions of a learned nature. At this stage it is our journal of news, ideas and views, as well as being the expression of our services to Association members and to everybody else who accesses the site. http://www.wphna.org/aboutthiswebsite.asp


sounds awfully.... editorialized to me