The Many Damaging Effects of Eating Ultra-processed Foods
All of us, more or less, like to eat processed food. The food generally has a great acceptance between children and young generation. Ultra-processed food is the transformed form of an agriculture product that is prepared by following some specific food processing techniques.
The most common way of preparing this type of ultra-processed food is freezing, drying, canning, baking etc. Processed food comes in various types of forms.
Usually, we know bread, tinned vegetables, different kinds of snacks such as chips, pastries, pie, sausage, roll, biscuits, cakes and soft drinks as ultra-processed foods. There is also some meat product which transforms into processed food through the microwave.
The food processing industry is growing day by day. There are thousands of giant companies which are doing well in this sector. The most famous companies we all know about are PepsiCo, Nestle, Smithfield foods, coca-cola, Tyson Foods and the list goes on.
All types of processed foods are generally not harmful to health. The actual danger lies with ultra-processed foods, which has been a cause for concern for many cardiology medics and researchers.
Ultra-processed Foods and Their Health Risks
The food which contains excessive amounts of salts, sugar and fat while preparing is called ultra-Processed food. Suppose you buy coffee from the market which is fine for your health if you drink it as black coffee. But if you add sugar and milk to it, then it becomes an ultra-processed food and can create hazards for our health.
The rapid growth in ultra-processed food consumption is bringing chronic disease like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and high cholesterol to the human body. The rates of cardiac strokes and coronary artery diseases also are getting higher in middle or low-income countries. Consumption of ultra-processed food causes obesity which is the root of heart disease and kidney failure.
A recent study also claimed that eating ultra-processed foods for a long period of time can cause several cancers as well.