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Many of us are becoming more aware of the food and ingredients we put in our body, and the amount of content on the theme of ultra -processed foods has increased.
A large part of the western diet is composed of ultra -processed foods (UPFs, Ultra-Processed Food), so a recent study in the magazine Obesity Science and Practicesought to find out What effects we could observe in our body if we could start to eliminate them.
Recent data from one Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health They show that more than half of all calories consumed in US homes come from ups, which includes all the obvious things that probably come to mind when they think of “processed foods” – their hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and cakes – but the most widely accepted definitions of the term too cover some more surprising foods.
Things like Baby Formulas e bought They can also count as UPFs, due to their combinations of numerous ingredients and additives like the emulsionantes.
These foods are considered a step ahead of processed foods, which are things like canned fish and pasteurized milk – a type of processing that is essential for safe consumption.
We must consider everything we know about what a healthy diet constitutes. For example, a person can consume cereals -An UPF-to breakfast, but then eat mainly vegetables and whole grains for the rest of the day. Does it mean that your diet is not “healthy”? Attenuating as this means that this topic is not as simple as some would like to suggest.
What most people agree, however, is that the average proportion of UPFs in many diets is still too high.
Not all UPFs have an unfavorable nutritional profile, but, like Alison Brown,ational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutehe stressed in a recent, “There is a great overlap between ultra-processed foods and those that are rich in saturated fat, added sugar and sodium“.
As a way to solve the problem, the authors of the new study set out to test “ feasibilitya acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a new behavioral intervention designed to reduce UPF intake ”.
Participants had ages between the 18 and 75 years And they had already expressed the desire to change your eating habits.
Everyone reported having consumed at least two UPF per day e four different UPF the previous week.
The total sample, which was small, with only 14 people (one of which gave up after the first session), was composed of 85.7% women. All participants were classified as having overweight or obesity and had nominated the desire to lose weight.
Over a eight -week programthe group participated in weekly meetings with a specialist in lifestylewhich addressed topics such as the meal planningos food desires and full attention. There was also Four 30 minute practical sessions on meal preparation, based on a menu here upf.
To help start lifestyle adjustments, they all received about 100 euros to spend on their choice, and the expert encouraged participants to choose unused whole foods.
Before and after the intervention, all participants registered their body weight and were periodically asked them to feedback on the way the program was running.
At the end of the study, all other participants said they were “satisfied”Or“very satisfied“And everyone believed they were eating less ups. Participants referred have lost an average of 3.5 kg During the eight weeks and its total daily calorie intake decreased on average about 612.
“The expert gave us all kinds of recipe ideas that my wife and I liked a lot, and gave us all the foods we didn’t know before and ways to prepare food and make them excellent,” a participant reported.
The authors say this study was one of the first to test this type of behavioral intervention and shows that a program of this kind is viable and a positive experience for participants.
However, the authors recognize the small sample size: “The most notable limitation of this pilot study was the small size of the sample. The results must be interpreted with caution and cannot be considered generalizable ”. Other limitations include the fact that weight data have been self-remedied, which is always subject to bias.
It is also noteworthy that this population of people had already expressed the desire to change their eating habits. It is not clear if such a genre would work with people who had not shown interest in the subject. Nor do we know how participants will behave in the long run after the program is over.
Another important point raised by the authors is the need for a more systemic changeif governments and health authorities are really committed to reducing the proportion of UPF in diets. “To reduce UPF intake on a wide scale, integrated approaches that combine individual interventions with broader public health policies are required.”
Ultimately, this is a pilot study. It is possible that a structured intervention like this may be very useful for individuals who seek to reduce their own UPF consumption, and seems to have been positive physical and psychological effects for this group of participants. But it is far from being a widespread result that can be applied to the general population.
Teresa Oliveira Campos, Zap //
