To create affordable and tasty food that is conveniently packaged, basic food crops like corn, wheat, and potatoes are broken down into their molecular parts – starchy flours, protein isolates, fats and oils — or what manufacturers refer to as “slurries.”
Many ultraprocessed foods, from chips to burger buns, are made from ingredients that are produced during the manufacturing process, according to experts.
According to emerging science, many people overconsume chips, cereals, cakes, puddings and other ultraprocessed foods due to manufacturing processes that “pre-digest” raw food ingredients, bypassing the body’s signals of fullness.
You read it right: We are consuming pre-digested food.
What is “pre-digested”? To create affordable, tasty, and convenient food, basic food crops such as corn, wheat and potatoes are broken down into their molecular parts – starchy flours, protein isolates, fats and oils — or what manufacturers call “slurries.”
According to a video explanation from Starch Europe, part of the European Starch Industry Association, “the majority of what is extracted is starch slurry, a milky mixture of starch and water, but we also have extracted proteins and fibers.”
Approximately half of the starch slurry is used to produce starch-based sugars and other derivatives, which are created through a process similar to human digestion known as hydrolysis. The remaining slurries are then heated, pounded, shaped, or extruded into any food a manufacturer can think of, with the addition of artificial colorings, flavorings and emulsifiers.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Chris van Tulleken, an associate professor at University College London, explained that ultraprocessed foods are designed to incorporate the perfect blend of sugar, salt and fat to tantalize our taste buds, resulting in an almost irresistible product. He highlighted that despite the variety in appearance, many ultraprocessed foods share the same basic starting ingredients.
Van Tulleken, who authored the 2023 book “Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop?” stated, “It’s an illusion of food. But it’s really expensive and difficult for a food company to make food that is real and whole, and much cheaper for food companies to destroy real foods, turn them into molecules, and then reassemble those to make anything they want.”
Digestive system bypass
Experts believe that ultraprocessed food is quick and easy to digest, similar to the regurgitated food that mother birds provide to their chicks in the nest. However, this contradicts how the human digestive system is naturally intended to function.
The human gastrointestinal system, evolved to break down whole foods into their various nutritional components, absorb those vitamins, minerals and micronutrients, and eliminate undigestible leftovers and fiber as stool. Artificially accelerating the passage of food through the digestive system reduces the body’s ability to signal fullness.
Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine, highlighted that artificially processed food bypasses the stomach’s stretch receptors which notify the body when it has consumed enough food. As a result, individuals might consume twice as many calories as they require before these receptors can send the “we’ve had enough” signal.
Estimates suggest that 73% of the U.S. food supply consists of ultraprocessed foods, and while their impact on the body is challenging to pinpoint, studies have associated these foods with excessive calorie consumption and weight gain.
A clinical trial published in 2019 tackled this issue, locking away 20 healthy volunteers for a month. They ate an ultraprocessed diet for two weeks and a diet of minimally processed foods for the other two. Both diets contained the exact same quantity of calories, sugars, fiber, fat, salt, and carbohydrates. Participants consumed around 500 more calories per day and gained an average of 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms) on the ultraprocessed diet, highlighting the problematic nature of these foods.
Researchers, including Kevin Hall, a senior investigator at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, are exploring the potential reasons for weight gain from ultraprocessed foods such as their “hyper-palatability” due to enticing levels of sugar, salt, and fat.
Loss of nutrients
Consuming foods that are dismantled and reformed may result in them lacking the essential nutrients that the human body needs, according to Giulia Menichetti, a principal investigator and junior faculty at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“Although we are consuming more calories, they are less dense in terms of micronutrients,” Menichetti stated, emphasizing that breaking down the chemical and physical structure of the food cells can eliminate many essential nutrients.
Senior research scientist Anthony Fardet at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Paris noted that deconstructing the food matrix has been linked to a significantly higher risk of chronic disease and reduced global health. Studies have also found that ultraprocessed foods are less satiating and contribute to increased blood sugar levels.
High consumption of ultraprocessed foods has additionally been linked to elevated risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and depression. Fardet emphasized that the high degree of food processing observed in modern times was not seen before the Second World War and poses questions about its compatibility with human food system sustainability and global health.
Positive processing
Although the degree of processing has increased in recent decades, humans have been processing food for centuries – with the first evidence of fermentation dating back 13,000 years. Peeling, simmering, canning, adding salt for preservation, and other methods of processing can often enhance the accessibility of essential nutrients in food.
For example, the weakening of tough cell walls in asparagus through steaming makes vitamins A, C, E, K, and B folate more accessible to the body. Similarly, simmering tomatoes increases the levels of an antioxidant called lycopene, which is thought to improve bone health and lower the risk of heart disease. Overcooking vegetables, however, can degrade certain nutrients such as vitamin C, making it important to find the appropriate balance.
The video explanation from Starch Europe detailed how the extracted modified starch from a slurry can be processed in specific ways to achieve certain properties, improving resistance to cooking temperature changes and extending shelf life.
Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor emerita of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, emphasized that the food industry has created an environment that encourages overconsumption and triggers pleasure centers in the brain and hormones, making it difficult for individuals to regulate their food intake on their own.
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