Consumers have been warned about the health risks of consuming ultra-processed foods, but avoiding these products can be easier said than done. To understand what ingredients to look out for and how to pick the healthiest options, Boston Globe writer Tal Kopan recently brought Harvard Chan School’s Jerold Mande along on a trip to the grocery store.
In Kopan’s Feb. 17 article, Mande, adjunct professor of nutrition, said that the main concern with ultra-processed foods is that they are formulated to be calorically dense and highly palatable, making overeating easy. He suggested avoiding foods with a sweetener as the second or third ingredient and looking for foods that are low in sodium and saturated fats, and high in dietary fiber.
Mande said that in the current food environment, consumers shouldn’t strive to eat a perfect diet but rather make improvements that feel manageable. He said that small swaps—such as choosing whole grain instead of flour tortillas or adding peas to boxed macaroni and cheese—make a difference. He added that people shouldn’t feel like failures if they have trouble figuring out how to make healthy choices. “The answer is we have to fix the system,” he said.
Read the Boston Globe article: Ultraprocessing. Dyes. Sugars. An expert helped me navigate the grocery store.
Learn more
The worst ultra-processed foods for metabolic health (Harvard Chan School news)
Healthy eating advice from nutrition expert Walter Willett (Harvard Chan School news)
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