Ultra-Processed Foods: What You Actually Need to Know

It’s difficult to go very far in the nutrition world at the moment without coming across something about ultra-processed foods. We’re told to cut them down, swap them for “whole foods”, check ingredient lists and avoid foods with ingredients we can’t pronounce. This message makes nutrition seem pretty straightforward:

Ultra-processed = bad; Minimally processed = good

But nutrition is rarely that simple.

A recent critical review published in Proceedings of the Nutrition Society takes a closer look at the NOVA classification system and asks an important question: are all ultra-processed foods really the same?

The answer, unsurprisingly, is more complicated than a yes or no.

🥫 What actually is an ultra-processed food?

The NOVA system categorises foods according to the extent and purpose of processing. It places foods into four groups, with ultra-processed foods making up group 4.

This can include foods such as:

• Soft drinks 🥤

• Confectionery 🍬

• Packaged snacks 🍿

• Ready meals 🍲

• Some breads 🍞

• Breakfast cereals 🥣

• Flavoured yoghurts 🥛

• Plant-based milks 🥛

• Packaged wraps 🌯

• Pesto 🌿

• Fortified foods 💊

  
  

However, “ultra-processed” is a classification based on processing. It isn't a nutritional score.

It doesn't tell us:

• How much protein, fibre, vitamins or minerals a food contains

• How affordable it is

• How convenient it is

• Whether we enjoy it

• How useful it might be in helping us eat regularly

🔎 One category, lots of different foods

One of the key criticisms raised in the review is that NOVA-4 is an extremely broad category.

For example, some fortified breakfast cereals can be classified as ultra-processed despite providing whole grains and important micronutrients. Foods with very similar nutritional profiles can also end up with different NOVA classifications because of differences in ingredients or additives.

This makes it difficult to treat every food within the category as though it has the same impact on our health. It also raises an important question about the research we see linking UPFs with health outcomes.

Much of the research is observational, meaning researchers can identify associations between higher UPF consumption and certain health outcomes, but this doesn't necessarily tell us that the processing itself caused those outcomes - it could be any of the other nutritional differences in these foods (of which there are many) impacting the results.

People who eat more UPFs may differ from those who eat fewer in lots of other ways, including:

• Income and food security 💷

• Education 🎓

• Physical activity 🏃‍♀️

• Overall dietary pattern 🍽️

• Access to food 🛒

  
  

There are also challenges with accurately measuring how much UPF someone eats and consistently classifying foods according to NOVA. So while the research around UPFs is certainly worth paying attention to, it isn't quite as simple as “research proves that ultra-processed food is bad.”

💷 What about nutrition and food security?

Another part of this conversation that deserves much more attention is access to food.

The review highlights research showing that processed foods can make significant contributions to nutrient intake. In one US analysis, foods that would largely fall into the NOVA-4 category contributed around:

• 55% of dietary fibre 🌾

• 48% of calcium 🥛

• 43% of potassium 🍌

• Significant amounts of vitamin D, iron, folate and vitamin B12 ☀️🩸

  
  

This demonstrates why simply telling everyone to “eat less processed food” isn't particularly helpful without considering the wider context. Some ultra-processed foods are relatively affordable, convenient and easy to store. For someone working long hours, caring for children, living with limited energy or managing a tight food budget, this is important.

The review highlights research suggesting that following a diet based primarily on minimally processed foods could substantially increase household food costs and make eating well less accessible.

Food advice needs to work in the real world, not just on paper.

🧠 What does this mean for eating disorder recovery?

If you're recovering from an eating disorder, you may already have a long list of foods you've been told you shouldn't eat. Adding another category to that list - “ultra-processed foods” - can feel like you're doing something healthy and informed. But if it leads to more restriction, anxiety or fear around food, it may actually be moving you further away from recovery.

You might find yourself:

• 🔍 Checking every ingredient list

• 📱 Googling whether particular foods are “safe”

• 🚫 Avoiding foods because they're classified as UPF

• 🍳 Spending more time preparing food from scratch because packaged alternatives feel wrong

• 😟 Feeling guilty after eating something you've labelled as “unhealthy”

• 🔄 Constantly looking for a “better” alternative

• 📋 Becoming increasingly rigid about which brands or products you will eat

  
  

At this point, the issue isn't really whether the food is ultra-processed.

The question becomes what this label is doing to your relationship with food.

🤔 So, should you avoid ultra-processed foods?

There isn't a simple yes or no answer but having blanket black and white rules in your diet is never going to helpful.

Some UPFs are higher in energy, saturated fat, salt or free sugars, and it makes sense to consider these characteristics as part of our overall diet. But that doesn't mean that every food within the UPF category should be treated in the same way.

Instead of looking at processing in isolation, it can be more useful to consider the whole picture:

• 🥗 What does the food provide nutritionally?

• 😋 Do you enjoy it?

• 💷 Is it affordable?

• ⏰ Is it convenient?

• 🍽️ Does it help you eat regularly?

• 👥 Does it allow you to participate in social situations?

• 🧡 Does it make feeding yourself easier when you don't have the time or energy to cook?

• 🔓 Does avoiding it make your diet more restrictive?

  
  

These are all relevant questions and none of them can be answered simply by looking at whether something is classified as ultra-processed.

🌱 You don't need to eat 'perfectly' to eat well

Perhaps the biggest problem with the current UPF conversation is that it can turn a complicated area of nutrition into another set of rules. But a healthy diet isn't created by making every individual food choice as “healthy” as possible.

It's created through the overall pattern of what we eat, alongside our circumstances, preferences, nutritional needs and relationship with food.

There is room for:

🥦 Fruit and vegetables

🍞 Whole grains and minimally processed foods

🥣 Breakfast cereal

🥪 Packaged bread

🍝 Pesto and jarred sauces

🍕 Frozen pizza🍫

Chocolate

🍪 Biscuits

🍲 Ready meals

…and all the other foods that make up real people's lives.

References

Chun, J. (2025) “Are all ultra-processed foods bad? A critical review of the NOVA classification system,” Proceedings of The Nutrition Society, pp. 1–9.

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