Experts list simple food swaps to reduce ultra-processed products in diets

Experts including Mark Lawrence, an ecological nutrition professor at Deakin University, say it is “really difficult to avoid” ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and offer nine straightforward swaps to help consumers cut them from their diets. A global report co-authored by Lawrence found Australia, alongside the US and UK, has one of the world’s highest consumption rates of UPFs.

Co-author Dr Mathilde Touvier told the Guardian that UPFs have a “strong and consistent association with cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, depression and obesity”, and said it is “urgent” that consumers eat less of them. Dietitian Dr Eden Barrett noted the challenge, saying about 60% of packaged foods in Australia would be classed as UPF, according to the George Institute for Global Health’s assessment of more than 40,000 supermarket products.

The experts describe UPFs as foods made using industrial processes and ingredients not normally found in a typical kitchen, with additions such as flavours, emulsifiers, colours, sweeteners and thickeners.

Key Topics

Health, Ultra-processed Foods, Mark Lawrence, Mathilde Touvier, Deakin University, George Institute