I do Wordle every day and have a login with the New York Times to keep track of my stats (current steak 93). As result NYT send me emails about news and various articles. Some I can read but most are behind a paywall. I wouldn't mind pay £x to read y articles but I don't want an ongoing subscription.
Yesterday there was an article about the worst UPFs for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancers, etc. Unfortunately it's behind the paywall. Did anyone read it. I imagine the worse include full fat coke, treats like Mars bars, low grade ready meals and McDonald's style meals!
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Heythrop51
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I haven't read it myself, but I eat very few foods now that have an ingredients list.
Big no-nos for me are vegetable seed oils (rape, canola, sunflower or simply vegetable oil). On their own these are usually UPFs that oxidise very quickly and easily.
I'll avoid foods with ingredients that seem like they are created in a lab or that I have little clue what they are. Fancy a bit of titanium dioxide in your low fat mayo? Me neither.
I avoid foods made with processed grains (wheat, oats, barley, rice, corn, etc). These have a tendency to be nutrient poor, high in anti-nutrients and can be inflammatory. They are also some of the foods most dosed in herbicides and insecticides.
I also avoid foods with added sugars. There's so many words they use for sugar now including things like dextrose and maltose it can be easy to miss.
I don't think people can go far wrong by prioritising real foods.
For the past four years I've followed a ketogenic lifestyle - meat, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, vegetables (preferring non-starchy), and a limited amount of fruit (mainly berries). This has delivered many health improvements for me.
Since the start of this year I moved to mainly carnivore (some call it ketovore), which has seen my health improve even more. I know this goes against mainstream health advice, but it has worked for me.
That makes sense then. My diet is completely the opposite - my diet consists nearly 50% of complex carbs. I guess whatever works for someone.
But have white meat mainly and eggs in moderation and rarely red meat. Cooking mainly in rapeseed oil, but use lots of virgin oil in salads and flavouring with spice. I need the carbs because I workout a lot and without that source my body is like a zombie.
eat mostly food you prepare from basic ingredients - with packaged foods choose those with the fewest ingredients you would not use yourself or have in a "normal" kitchen cupboard
there is a vast array of foods and combinations available, but it tends to involve devoting more time and attention to shopping and preparation - practice makes (closer to) perfect!
and the occasional UPF can be consumed - it is relying on them heavily which could be more risky
Hi Alfred - apologies if I get this wrong; it’s my first post. I read the item (I’m a Wordler too) and it was saying that UPFs such as breakfast cereals which also contain a number of nutrients were not as harmful as may have been first thought. The key thing seems to be nutrient density. Low value nutrient UPFs such as sweet fizzy drinks were particularly bad. I registered with NYT but didn’t pay anything and I now seem to get their full articles.
On my nhs cardiac rehab they told us to use rape and olive oils etc...as they are much better. Apparently rapeseed oil is better than olive in some instances.
Hi Alfred. Your list seems spot on. The one thing that confuses me though is rapeseed oil. It's often listed as a 'bad actor'. At the same time, it is claimed to lower bad cholesterol and contain omega-3 fatty acids. The NHS actually recommends its use in the materials they hand out to their rehab groups. I'm not an expert myself, but it wonder how people feel about using rapeseed oil.
Olive oil is another interesting one. Apparently it produces harmful compounds when heated. Which is why I only use it cold (eg for salads). I wonder how people feel about this. Does it make sense?
I believe rapeseed oil (often labelled as canola or just vegetable oil) is recommended for cooking over olive oil because it has a higher smoke point. It resists breaking down into toxic products like aldehyde when heated far better than olive oil. This is a good thing. However, vegetable oils made from seeds (not olive oil, which is pressed from fruit flesh), are UPFs. They undergo several processes to produce including high heat, and solvents such as hexane to extract the oil. It is then bleached and deodorised, and then they add colour back in. You end up with a product that will start oxidising while it is still on the supermarket shelf. If it wasn't bleached and deodorised you'd know it was oxidised because it would taste rancid. Oxidised products are inflammatory and bad for health.
For a bit more money you can buy cold pressed rapeseed oil. This is much better but personally I still consider it a poor choice as it is high in polyunsaturated acids (PUFA). PUFAs are inherently unstable and will break down into oxidised products far easier than monounsaturated or saturated fatty acids.
Personally I stick with animal fats for cooking. They are very stable and have high smoke points.
Thank you so much for the extensive explanation. Looking at the info shared below, there may actually be some arguments to keep using olive oil. I still find it confusing I'm afraid. Your arguments against rapeseed oil seem to make a lot of sense (and yet it is recommended in rehab). The arguments below pro olive oil seem to make sense too (and yet it is not recommended in rehab). I don't understand why rehab is recommending anything different from the conclusions here..
In short, the people at rehab will tell you what they have been told to tell you. The organisations who set the agenda are easily corrupted and financed to a large degree by big pharma. A cured customer is a lost customer.
Sorry for the late reply. I hear you. This is probably where my confusion originates. If the info that is shared in rehab is biased, then you have to embark on your own fact finding mission where getting the findings scientifically confirmed will be difficult. You end up with what you believe to be true rather than proven facts. Thanks again for sharing how rapeseed oil is produced. It helps me to understand. I still wonder about the best alternative: olive or avocado oil, or something completely different altogether.. ?
No problem. There is much conflicting and corrupted evidence out there, some of it contradictory. I think a body works best being fuelled by the food we evolved eating, and it is this guide that I try to use as a sanity check.
When I cook, I exclusively use animal fats (lard, tallow, butter, ghee). I know many on this forum will read that with horror, but I am not the slightest bit worried about saturated fat, which is extremely stable when heated.
It's probably okay to consume small amounts of olive oil, but personally I wouldn't cook with it.
I changed to high quality, UK made rape seed oil after reading that advice from rehab. Olive oil has a much lower burning point and is usually not recommended for cooking. What their effect on me is, I have no idea
Having been to a NHS class as I got pre diabetes and learnt that Olive is a good oil but when gets to a high heat when cooking it turns in to a bad fat that no good for heart and was told to use rapeseed oil Cold press as it’s module’s do not change and is good.
That's exactly my experience. Although I must say that the link that PecanSandle kindly shared above seems to have good arguments for olive oil. And there are also arguments against rapeseed oil apparently (not part of that article though, but shared above by AlfredV).
Avoid the processed foods and fast foods.Restrict processed sugar and avoid artificial sweetener and diet sodas ( as this can cause it's own issues ).
Restrict things like cakes , sweets and biscuits, pastries or saturated fats and fried foods to an occasional treat and have a smaller portion.
Restrict the portion size of simple "white" carbohydrates like peeled potatoes, white rice and pasta , white bread and the sugar and choose whole grain , seeded or brown options and keep the skins on the spuds.
Eat lean meat and only occasional red meat and fish rather than sausages, burgers and bacon.
Eggs are actually alright now that the cholesterol myth has been busted.
Then a diverse variety of fruit and vegetables with soluble fibre to keep up your nutrients and semi skimmed dairy products ( lactofree included) or full fat live yoghurt or nut milks are good. Lots of different grains and oats unless you are intolerant and must be wheat or gluten free.
Keeping away from transfats like certain margarines , palm oil , excessive coconut oil ( a packer in a lot of so called healthier sweet foods or pastry) and saturated fat and sticking to healthier fats like olive and sunflower oil, nut oil or avocado.
Actually take care with so called healthy snacks and smoothies if they are shop bought as they can often have a whopping amount of sugar and too much oil in them.
Choose a few cubes of dark chocolate for a sweet fix instead of milk chocolate.
These lists in the newspapers are usually all much of a muchness and contain the things above .
Burgers and Fried Chicken are always on them , as is crisps and chips.
Fizzy drinks will also be included along with the worst types of packet cakes and biscuits.
"Of the 10 ultraprocessed food categories they looked at, two were clearly associated with greater risk: sugar-sweetened drinks (like soda and fruit punch) and processed meat, poultry and fish (like bacon, hot dogs, breaded fish products, chicken sausages and salami sandwiches).
When these two categories were excluded from the data, most of the risk associated with ultraprocessed food consumption disappeared, said Kenny Mendoza, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who led the analysis."
However, as it’s American, I’d take it with a pinch of salt!
Name a common condition — heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, dementia, irritable bowel syndrome — and chances are good that following a diet high in ultraprocessed foods has been linked to it.
But the ultraprocessed food category is large and wide-ranging. It makes up an estimated 73 percent of the U.S. food supply, and contains stereotypically “unhealthy” products like sodas, candies and hot dogs as well as seemingly “healthy” ones like whole grain breads, breakfast cereals, flavored yogurts and plant milks.
It’s a “hodgepodge of foods,” some of which are likely more harmful than others, said Josiemer Mattei, an associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
On Monday, Dr. Mattei and her colleagues published one of the largest and longest studies on ultraprocessed foods and heart health to date. In it, they analyzed the risks of consuming these foods, and teased out the worst offenders.
An Overall Risk of Ultraprocessed Foods
The new study, published in a Lancet journal, included more than 200,000 adults in the United States. They filled out detailed diet questionnaires beginning in the 1980s and early 1990s, and completed them again every two to four years for about 30 years. Most of the participants in the study were white and worked as health professionals. The researchers looked at how the participants’ ultraprocessed food consumption related to their chances of developing cardiovascular disease.
After adjusting for risk factors like smoking, family health history, sleep and exercise, the researchers found that those who consumed the most ultraprocessed foods were 11 percent more likely to develop cardiovascular disease and 16 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease during the study period, compared with those who consumed the least ultraprocessed foods. The highest consumers also had a slightly, but not significantly, elevated risk of stroke.
The researchers also combined their findings with those from 19 other studies, for a separate analysis of about 1.25 million adults. They found that those who consumed the most ultraprocessed foods were 17 percent more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, 23 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease and 9 percent more likely to have a stroke compared with the lowest consumers.
The study’s size and the regular checks on participants’ diets made it “one of the most robust studies” of this question, said Niyati Parekh, a professor of public health nutrition at New York University.
But it had some limitations that are common with these types of nutrition studies, she said. The diet questionnaires were not designed to capture how foods were processed, so the researchers had to determine which were likely to be ultraprocessed after the fact. The nutrients and ingredients in some foods, such as breakfast cereals, may also have changed over the decades since the study began, she added, making their results less applicable to the foods we consume today.
And because the study participants were mainly white and well-educated about health, she said, the findings may not represent the risk to everyone.
These types of studies can’t prove cause and effect; they can only show that eating ultraprocessed foods is associated with health risks, Dr. Mattei said. But what is striking, she added, is how consistently research from around the world has linked ultraprocessed food consumption to poor health.
Teasing the “Good Guys” from the “Bad Guys”
The researchers also analyzed whether certain types of ultraprocessed foods were more associated with cardiovascular disease than others.
Of the 10 ultraprocessed food categories they looked at, two were clearly associated with greater risk: sugar-sweetened drinks (like soda and fruit punch) and processed meat, poultry and fish (like bacon, hot dogs, breaded fish products, chicken sausages and salami sandwiches).
When these two categories were excluded from the data, most of the risk associated with ultraprocessed food consumption disappeared, said Kenny Mendoza, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who led the analysis.
Some types of ultraprocessed foods, on the other hand, were associated with reduced risks for cardiovascular disease. These included breakfast cereals; sweetened and flavored yogurts, frozen yogurts and ice cream; and savory snacks like packaged popcorn and crackers.
These results track with previous studies, which have also suggested that processed meats and sweet drinks are the most harmful types of ultraprocessed foods. And some past research has found that breads, cereals and yogurts are associated with no risk or reduced risk, said Maya Vadiveloo, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of Rhode Island.
The differences between the “good guys” and the “bad guys” may come down to how they’re processed and what they offer nutritionally, Dr. Mendoza said.
Processed meats, for example, tend to be high in sodium and saturated fats, and sodas and other sweet drinks are often high in sugar. Whereas whole grain cereals and breads, even those that are ultraprocessed, can provide valuable nutrients such as fiber, minerals and B vitamins, Dr. Mendoza said.
Dr. Mattei likened scientists’ current understanding of ultraprocessed foods to their knowledge of fats several decades ago. It took time, she said, to figure out which types of fats were harmful and which were not. This study and future research may help to untangle those same questions with ultraprocessed foods, she added.
What’s the takeaway?
Looking at the evidence on ultraprocessed foods, there are some things experts agree on.
First, you can’t go wrong with consuming mostly unprocessed or minimally processed foods, like fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains, Dr. Vadiveloo said. It’s clear that eating more of these foods and fewer ultraprocessed versions is associated with better health.
Second, processed meats and sugary drinks have consistently been linked to poor health, Dr. Mattei said, so reducing or eliminating those foods from your diet should be a priority.
That isn’t to say that processed meats and sodas are the only harmful ultraprocessed foods, or that it’s safe to consume as much of the others as you’d like, said Mathilde Touvier, director of the nutritional epidemiology team at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in France.
Research from her group has linked certain additives in many ultraprocessed foods, like artificial sweeteners, preservatives and emulsifiers, with conditions like cancer and Type 2 diabetes. We need more research, she said, on how these and other ingredients may affect health.
But for now, whether a food is ultraprocessed should not be the only “barometer” of how healthy it is, Dr. Vadiveloo said.
I subscribe to the NYT. It's brilliant. I pay £60 pa soon to be £90, but tbh it's excellent value at less than £2 per week. The entry price tends to be £30 pa. I left the Murdoch UK Times and know which is better value for money.
3 main meals a day with a portion of protein(size of your palm/fist, then same with a good carb food, the rest is fruit and veg. Nothing is off the list of foods to eat bit when processed these need to be reduced.
I got myself a microwave with an Air fryer in it and so I cook most of my foods in the airfryer and rarely fry. I use a good quality Olive oil to cook with or drizzle on food where it's needed. Don't add salt to foods unless slightly needed and used lots of spices and herbs in cooking.
I turned into food police when I came home from my 4x CABG following Nstemi heart attack July 2023.. sacked off as much UPF as possible , make my own breads to reduce salt & sugar , eat white meat , salmon , olive oils , nuts etc mainly med type foods. However , I still enjoy life and celebrate with friends and family on special occasions and enjoy a beer/wine crisps and eating out in restaurants/pubs but I still make best choices. I check food labels for ingredients for things like peanut butter ( no palm oil etc) and don’t eat bacon or charcuterie anymore . Have my own hens on my small holding and enjoy an egg a day.
I notice that alcohol didn’t feature in the article. Not all processed foods are ultra processed and as mentioned by others some have benefits . Plant sterols and stanols in some spreads , useful for some.
To read a news article that's behind a paywall, just use a webpage archive site like archive.ph/. Copy the URL/link for the article that you want to read and paste it into the bottom box labelled 'I want to search the archive for saved snapshots'. If it's not there, paste it into the top box and archive it.
paywallreader.com/ has multiple options, but I prefer the simplicity of the one above.
To get round the paywall restrictions, without a subscription, when you click on the link, then quickly put your device into airplane mode(this must be done before the paywall comes up). You’d be surprised how often this works with a little practice😉 I have read many many articles that “they” want me to pay for.
I've had two heart attacks, am two stone overweight and just starting to wise up to the dangers of UPF. I've found the book 'Eat Better Forever: 7 Ways to Transform Your Diet' by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall really helpful. Rather than a prescriptive diet, it convincingly offers principles for better health followed by some recipes to get you going. Early days for me but after a couple of weeks I've definitely developed a taste for healthier food and have ditched the snacks and high sugar stuff, even when it's discounted!
I was just scrolling down to recommend this book. It is fantastic. Very informative and well written and was certainly an eye opener for me. It has really changed my shopping habits
Thank you for sharing this article! I liked that it was longitudinal and looked at a fairly large survey population. However, I agree that it might need to be viewed with some caution as the participants (original study) were all White and in the health profession. Many people in America are still not properly educated on nutrition and diet. Plus, income can greatly affect the types, quality, and quantities of foods eaten.
I agree with Fishonabike’s comment about eating basic foods that one might have handy in the cupboard.
Yesterday, for dinner, I made a very simple meal in my crockpot. I used a base of quinoa, which has about 7 gm of protein per serving and minerals such as manganese, etc., about 1/2 to 1 cup of low-sodium beef stock, fresh carrots, frozen baby peas, a handful of golden raisins, fresh ground black pepper, a tablespoon of minced garlic, and I placed chicken drumsticks on top of my base, and then just let it cook. I usually use skinless, boneless chicken thighs, but I only had chicken legs on hand. All of my ingredients were just “on-hand” in the freezer or cupboard basically.
Also, like someone else mentioned, I try to eat a lot more fresh fruits and veggies. 🥕
On my quest to limit sugars and to lose weight, I learned last week that I have dropped 6 pounds since February. I am aware that that is hardly any weight at all, but it is in the right direction on the scale. Since my HA in March 2022, I have lost a total now of 40 pounds. Mainly, I attribute this to changes in my diet, but I have also tried to step up my physical movement. Still a work-in-progress! 😊
I'm careful too since the HA and subsequent 3xCABG, but then I was careful before. Maybe a bit more so now. Good luck to all of you ultra diligent folk who have turned being careful into a fine art. I still have this awful sneaking suspicion, though, that when your number comes up, there ain't a lot you can do about it however "good" you were.
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