Major points:
- Not every prepackaged food is bad for your health. It depends on the degree of processing.
- The consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with premature death and various diseases.
- By avoiding flavors and sweeteners, a large proportion of ultra-processed foods is eliminated in Neatic.
Imagine coming home after a long day of work and the only thing you find in your cupboard is pasta and a can of ready-made tomato sauce. But is this really a good option? Often, people are concerned about the healthiness of these prepackaged products and their potential to cause weight gain. Therefore, the question of whether or not consuming pre-made products is unhealthy will be adressed here.
What are convenience foods anyway?
In general, convenience foods (also called ready-made products) are pre-prepared or already prepared foods that are intended to simplify and speed up the process of meal preparation. Convenience foods can be complete meals, but also ingredients that supplement a meal, such as salad dressings or prepared vegetables. They are often bottled, canned, or frozen. Convenience foods all have in common that no or only a few steps are necessary at home before they can be consumed.
However, convenience foods are not necessarily bad for your health, since they differ in composition and degree of processing which both determine how healthy or unhealthy a food is.
Composition and Degree of Processing
Group
Designation
Description
Typical foods
1
Unprocessed and minimally processed foods
These foods are fresh, dried, chopped, heated, frozen, or vacuum packed.
No salt, sugar, oil, or other substances are added to the original food.
Vegetables, fruits, herbs, spices, nuts, cereals, flour, potatoes, meat, fish, eggs, milk, yogurt, tea, coffee
2
Processed ingredients
These ingredients are obtained directly from group 1 foods by pressing, centrifuging, refining, or extracting. They are used for the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of group 1 foods.
Salt, sugar, honey, vegetable oils, butter, vinegar, starch, baking powder
3
Processed foods
These foods are produced by adding group 2 ingredients to group 1 foods. Preservation processes such as smoking, curing, canning, and fermentation are used.
Bread, pasta, jams, canned foods, beer, wine
4
Ultra-processed foods
These foods are produced industrially in several processing steps and contain additives.
Foods to which additives, e.g., flavors, sweeteners, fructose or emulsifiers, have been added.
Group 1: Unprocessed and minimally processed foods
These foods are fresh, dried, chopped, heated, frozen, or vacuum packed.
No salt, sugar, oil, or other substances are added to the original food.
Examples:
Vegetables, fruits, herbs, spices, nuts, grains, flour, potatoes, meat, fish, eggs, milk, yogurt, tea, coffee.
Group 2: Processed ingredients
These ingredients are obtained directly from group 1 foods by pressing, centrifuging, refining, or extracting.
They are used for the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of group 1 foods.
Examples:
Salt, sugar, honey, vegetable oils, butter, vinegar, starch, baking powder.
Group 3: Processed foods
These foods are produced by adding group 2 ingredients to group 1 foods. Preservation processes such as smoking, curing, canning, and fermentation are used.
Examples:
Bread, pasta, jams, canned foods, beer, wine.
Group 4: Ultra-processed foods
These foods are produced industrially in several processing steps and contain additives.
Examples:
Foods to which additives, e.g., flavors, sweeteners, fructose, or emulsifiers have been added.
Are convenience foods unhealthy?
Each food can be assigned to one of these groups on the basis of degree of processing and composition. Foods in NOVA group 4, i.e., ultra-processed foods, have been particularly well studied.
Back to the can of ready-made tomato sauce. Its raw material, the tomatoes, are NOVA group 1. However, which NOVA group your tomato sauce belongs to depends on its processing and its additives (e.g., whether or not it contains added flavors). This is important since the more processed convenience foods are, the less healthy they become.
A number of studies show a correlation between ultra-processed foods (i.e., foods from NOVA group 4) consumption and premature death, as well as an increased risk for obesity, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and digestive disorders. Therefore, the consumption of ultra-processed foods should be reduced.
How can you find out if a food is ultra-processed?
There there are over 60 additives called “markers of ultra-processing” that define a food as ultra-processed (NOVA group 4). Among the markers of ultra-processing, “non-culinary ingredients” and “cosmetic additives” are distinguished.
Non-culinary ingredients are not typically used in food preparation at home:
- Various sugars, such as fructose and maltodextrin
- Modified oils
- Protein sources, such as protein isolates, casein, and whey protein
Cosmetic additives are added to foods to improve their taste and odor:
- Flavors
- Flavor enhancers
- Colorants
- Sweeteners
- Emulsifiers and other processing aids
Therefore, you have to remember a lot of complicated terms to correctly identify ultra-processed foods. Even nutrition experts have difficulties to classify foods into the correct NOVA group. However, the good news is, that it is unnecessary to memorize dozens of markers.
If you live according to the Neatic principles, you are already taking into account two important markers of ultra-processing: flavors and sweeteners. A study by the Neatic team shows that alone the word flavor on the ingredient list identifies more than half of the ultra-processed foods.
What does this mean for the ready-made tomato sauce?
If you want to prepare tomato sauce, you have different possibilities. You can:
a) Prepare a delicious tomato sauce yourself from fresh tomatoes, herbs, and spices.
b) Prepare a delicious tomato sauce yourself from canned pureed or chopped tomatoes.
c) Heat up a ready-made tomato sauce from a can or jar.
d) Mix tomato sauce powder with water.
In all four options, you decide how processed your tomato sauce will be.
In option a) you only use foods from NOVA groups 1 and 2. But even options b) to d) are not ultra-processed as long as no markers of ultra-processing are found on the ingredient list. Taking this into account, you can choose the best tomato sauce when shopping and you do not have to worry about ultra-processed foods at home. But remember, if flavors or sweeteners appear on the ingredient list, the food is definitely ultra-processed.
What does Neatic recommend concerning convenience products?
In Neatic, convenience products are not inherently good or bad. They can be a helpful support in a stressful everyday life. If you live according to the Neatic principles, you exclude more than half of the ultra-processed convenience products from your food selection, which will contain less ultra-processed products and more fresh and healthy foods.
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