Despite all the TV cookery shows encouraging us to make healthy meals from scratch, most food on family shopping lists is now ‘ultra-processed’ – full of artificial additives and industrial ingredients.
Britons are the least likely among Europeans to buy the fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish needed for a healthy, home-made meal.
Instead, we rely on factory-made food, typified by the use of reconstituted meats and high levels of salt and sugar, but lacking healthy elements such as vitamins and fibre, research has found.
Nutrition experts say the nation’s poor diet is linked to an obesity timebomb, in which a growing number of people are becoming dangerously overweight.
They also said industry lobbyists were wrong to claim there was no such thing as bad food, just too much food.
Ultra-processed products account for 50.7 per cent of food bought by Britons, a study of 19 European countries shows. Germany came second with 46.2 per cent, followed by Ireland on 45.9 per cent. Lowest was Portugal with 10.2 per cent.
But the ratios may be higher because the data came from the Living Costs and Food Survey in 2008 – the most recent.
Foods were put in four groups, with those that had not been processed or only slightly processed accounting for 28.6 per cent.
The top brands of ultra-processed snacks include ready meals such as Super Noodles, Batchelors and McVitie’s biscuits
A further 10.4 per cent had processed ingredients such as vegetable oil, and a similar ratio was ordinary processed food, such as cured meat or cheese.
The rest was ultra-processed food such as salty snacks, sugary cereals, industrially made desserts and cheese, sweetened drinks and reconstituted meats.
The top brands of ultra-processed foods include Mr Kipling cakes, Batchelors dried ready meals such as Super Noodles, McVitie’s for sweet biscuits and Kellogg’s cereals.
Professor Carlos Monteiro, of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, who led the research, warned of the health impact.
His study, in the journal Public Health Nutrition, found most processed foods were sugary or salty to make us eat more.
He told The Guardian: ‘Take breakfast cereals. Froot Loops [are] more than 50 per cent sugar. But there is no fruit. Ultra-processed foods are essentially new creations… with very low-cost ingredients in a very attractive product.’
The cereal Froot Loops consists of more than 50 per cent sugar but contains no fruit whatsoever
Another example was instant noodles or ultra-processed cheese, which is made from milk powder and additives. ‘If you have instant noodles based on oils, starch and additives, you’re not eating noodles,’ he said.
‘The same goes for chicken nuggets. When you get these ultra-processed chicken nuggets you are not getting real chicken.’
His colleague, Professor Jean-Claude Moubarac, of the University of Montreal, said ultra-processed food had ‘very low nutritional qualities’ but lots of calories. He recommending that people ‘limit or avoid ultra-processed foods’.
Kellogg’s said Froot Loops were made from ‘natural grains and contain only natural colours’, with added vitamins.
McVitie’s said it gave clear information to let buyers make ‘informed snacking choices’. Premier, which owns Mr Kipling and Batchelors, said it had cut the sugar in Mr Kipling slices.
What’s really in a Mr Kipling treat?
- Each Angel Slice has 13.2g of sugar – 15 per cent of an adult’s daily limit.
- Vegetable oils, including rapeseed and palm oil – a highly saturated fat.
- Wheat flour with fortifiers calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin.
- Glucose syrup – another sugar.
- Vegetable glycerine – to reduce moisture loss.
- Dextrose – another sugar.
- Whey powder – for texture.
- Palm fat (a cheap saturated fat).
- Maize starch – stops lumps forming.
- Raising agents – disodium diphosphate (also used to process leather) and baking soda.
- Emulsifiers (stabilisers) – monoand diglycerides of fatty acids, sorbitan monostearate, polyglycerolesters of fatty acids, soya lecithin and polysorbate 60.
- Tapioca starch – thickening agent.
- Stabiliser – xanthan gum (a sugar).
- Preservative – potassium sorbate.
- Milk protein – replaces egg.
- Gelling agent – sodium alginate (E401, from seaweed).
- Colours – titanium dioxide (also used in paint), cochineal (from insects), lutein (from marigolds).
- Acetic acid – leavening agent.
- Plus water, dried egg white, skimmed milk powder, salt.