The other day I fell for it.   As a fan of popcorn, looking for an afternoon snack, I purchased a bag of cheese-flavoured popcorn to toss in my mouth while driving on errands around town.  Not a recommended practice for safe driving.

Couldn’t find an organic brand, so bought a ‘gourmet’ one.  Sigh.  Of course that doesn’t mean anything, other than that these particular food producers know how to tap into trends.  At least the popcorn was tasty.

Here’s a label from a brand of antipasto that is called ‘gourmet’ in large letters on the front of the jar.  How about all those ingredients?  

As Michael Pollan says in his entertaining little book Food Rules: ‘Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.’ (Rule #3) and: ‘Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients.’ (Rule #6)

‘Gourmet’ does not necessarily equal ‘healthy.’   Gourmet does not necessarily mean anything good at all.   This example is a useful reminder about  empty food terms.  Among these are ‘natural,’ ‘light,’ and, notoriously, ‘lite.’   As for ‘gourmet,’  I’m going to try to stop falling for it.

‘Ultra-processed’ food.  It’s a useful concept that has been the subject of enthusiastic discussion since a Brazilian nutrition scientist published an academic article on it a few weeks ago.  Carlos Monteiro from the University of São Paulo, writing in World Nutrition, proposed the simple but innovative concept that could help us think more clearly about which foods are healthy for us and which ones are not.

Most people who are food-conscious today hold a general belief that ‘processed’ food is not good for health.   But Dr. Monteiro has outlined a better way of looking at the problem.

All food is processed, he points out.  Even if you pick an apple directly from a tree, if you then scrub it and cut out a worm-hole you’ve processed the fruit.  What we should be concerned about is not whether food is processed, but to what degree and for what purpose.  He groups foods into three categories, with Group 1 being minimally processed, Group 2 lightly processed, and Group 3 ‘ultra-processed.’  Unfortunately, the latter group includes what he calls the five most commonly consumed foods in the United States – sugared soft drinks, cakes and pastries, burgers, pizza, and potato chips.

“The purpose of type 3 food processing is the creation of durable, accessible, convenient, attractive, ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat products,” he says.(p. 252)  But this comes at a cost.  Ultra-processed foods are high in calories and have copious saturated fat, salt, sugar, and chemicals.  “Their high energy density, hyper-palatability, their marketing in large and super-sizes, and aggressive and sophisticated advertising, all undermine the normal processes of appetite control, cause over-consumption, and therefore cause obesity, and diseases associated with obesity.” (p. 253)

At a consumer level, we can stop buying and eating these so-called foods.  At a government level, we can develop more effective regulation.   Dr. Monteiro believes transnational agri-business is incapable of solving this public health problem.   “The swamping of food systems by ultra-processed products can be controlled and prevented only by statutory regulation.” (p. 262)

It’s another reason Canada and other countries need integrated food policies.  As citizens, you can encourage this by writing to your elected officials or getting involved in local food groups that are working toward better food systems.

Reference:  Monteiro,C. (2010)  The Big Issue is Ultra-processing. (Commentary).  World Nutrition, Nov 2010, 1, 6:237-269.