Those who don’t eat meat end up consuming more foods with additives, used to make products “hyper-palatable”, but which are harmful to health.
A new study, carried out in the United Kingdom, revealed a consumption of UPF [alimentos ultra-processados] higher in vegetarian diets and lower in diets with a modest amount of meat or fish.
These data result from a study whose results will be published in the December edition of eClinicalMedicine.
While further denoting a clear link between high red meat consumption and a greater risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and even premature death, they suggest that the problem of red meat consumption is strongly associated with intake of highly processed products than high-quality, unprocessed meat.
Although it is difficult to define what ultra-processed foods are, there is a widely used classification system called “NOVA“, which defines them as “industrial formulations made entirely or mainly from substances extracted from food (oils, fats, sugar, starch and proteins)”.
But the definition does not end there: these substances are “derived from food constituents (hydrogenated fats and modified starch) or synthesized in the laboratory from food substrates or other organic sources (flavor enhancers, colorings and various food additives used to make the product hyper-palatable)”, as mentioned by .
The study involved 2,000 people, and researchers found that Vegetarians are the ones who consume the most ultra-processed foods (about 1.3 percentage points) compared to regular red meat consumers.
Also the vegan consumed a little more ultra-processed foods compared to regular red meat consumers, although the disparity was not significantly different (1.2 percentage points).
According to the study, many people who follow plant-based diets in the industrialized world don’t just eat a balanced variety of fresh vegetables and fruits.
When trying to avoid meat, consumers, despite wanting to be more sustainable or even healthier, may end up opting for unhealthy meat substitutes: ready meals and other “convenience foods” which are often loaded with more calories, saturated fat, salt, sugar and all kinds of additives, which can lead to a poor quality diet.
“It is important that policies that encourage the urgently needed transition to more sustainable dietary patterns also promote the rebalancing diets towards as little processed foods as possible“, it is written in the study.
