From the 5th of January 2026, new measures have been introduced in the UK to protect children from junk food advertising. This landmark legislation is designed to reduce obesity by drastically reducing exposure to unhealthy food and drinks. Therefore reducing the desirability of them.
Of course, as parents, we are hypervigilant over what our children eat. This legislation not only starts to raise questions about the things we often associate with poor health, such as sugar and fat; it also opens up questions around what else is in our food that is having a negative impact on our bodies.
This is where many people are uncovering more details about the ingredients and processes by which food is made and discovering the world of Ultra Processed Foods (UPF).
What is an Ultra Processed Food (UPF), though?
Over the last few decades, Ultra Processed Foods are appearing more and more commonly on our shelves. With so many ingredients, preservatives and additives being relatively new to our food chain, concerns are increasing around their long-term implications.
The Food Standards Agency states that:
There is no single, universally agreed definition for ultra-processed foods. The NOVA classification (opens as PDF) (Opens in a new window) (which is the most commonly used) talks about food which contains “formulations of ingredients, mostly of exclusive industrial use, typically created by a series of industrial techniques and processes.”
Which can still raise several questions around what does and doesn’t class as a UPF, with such a wide variety available. However, we can follow a general rule to determine what could be ultra-processed in the ingredients list of our favourite food and drinks.
A Quick Guide to Spotting Ultra Processed Food:
The first thing to check is the name of the product. For example, if something is ‘vanilla flavoured’ over being ‘vanilla’. This could be applicable to something such as a yoghurt. Some ‘vanilla flavoured’ yoghurts would have an ingredients list that looks a little like this:
• Milk
• Sugar
• Natural flavours or vanillin
• Thickeners or stabilisers
This usually means that the vanilla flavour comes from flavour compounds, not from vanilla beans or a vanilla extract. Vanillin is a chemical compound that creates vanilla's sweet flavour and aroma and is usually produced synthetically. Thickeners and stabilisers are also chemical compounds. These are designed to create thicker textures and longer shelf lives and are usually classed as ultra-processed ingredients.
Common thickeners and stabilisers include:
• Carrageenan
• Guar gum
• Xanthan gum
• Modified starches
• Mono- and diglycerides
And if ever in doubt, you can always cross-reference with the NOVA classification system.
So, how do you spot a yoghurt, for example, that isn’t ultra-processed? A basic rule is: the fewer ingredients listed, the less likely it is that the product is ultra-processed. Therefore, when looking for a yoghurt, you would be keeping an eye out for an ingredients list akin to the below:
- Milk
- Sugar
- Vanilla Bean or Vanilla Extract
Why are we more aware of UPF’s now?
The awareness of UPFs is increasing. This is for a few reasons: more ways to create food, more studies around impacts to health, and more information at our disposal on media outlets and social channels. It all adds up to the bigger picture and awareness.
And if you have become more aware of UPFs recently, you’re not alone. Google Trends data indicates that searches for UPF have risen over the last 5 years alone, and the graph is continually climbing.
Simple Rules to Follow to Reduce Ultra Processed Food:
It may feel overwhelming when it comes to compiling a shopping list that reduces the Ultra Processed Food intake of your family. Especially when, in today’s world, we often don’t have the time to cook from scratch and solely use whole foods. There are a few general rules you can try to keep consumption lower overall, though:
• Avoid the food if the ingredients contain numbers or are unfamiliar, sounding more like a science experiment than a food type.
• If the final form doesn’t resemble real food (we’re talking about chicken made to look like a dinosaur, for example here), steer clear of it.
• If it’s designed for convenience rather than nourishment, it's also likely to be ultra-processed. These are often widely available ready meals, which will contain preservatives to maintain shelf life.
Another surprising way to reduce UPF intake is by looking in the frozen section over the chilled section. Some brands can freeze products as soon as they are produced, which naturally lengthens their shelf life. Some users on social media have discovered ready-made burgers, which often have a reputation for being poorer quality, that contain far fewer ingredients (and far fewer UPF ingredients) than their chilled counterparts!
Overall though, the only way to truly avoid UPFs is by cooking your meals from scratch with whole foods and fresh ingredients.
However, like all things in life, it’s about balance that doesn’t lead to overconsumption. The jury is still out on whether UPFs do have longer-term health implications, so eating or drinking some now will not cause you too much concern – but it is always recommended to reduce where you can when things are so uncertain.
Will you be making the change this new year and cutting down on your Ultra Processed Food intake?
If so, another way you can look after the health of your family and yourself is by choosing to switch to a filtered water system. The more you uncover about ingredients in your food and chemicals you can encounter, the more you will be concerned about other ways your body is ingesting things it’s simply not designed to do! Chlorine, microplastics, PFAS and more can be present, so by filtering these out, you are ensuring that your body is only having what it needs. You can explore our contaminants page for more information.
