These UPFs also tend to include additives
A study has found that vegetarians eat more ultra-processed food (UPFs) than meat-eaters.
Researchers at Imperial College London looked at the eating habits of 200,000 people taken from the UK Biobank.
It was found that vegetarians consumed a “significantly higher” amount of UPFs compared to the diets of red meat eaters, flexitarians, and pescatarians.
UPFs often contain high levels of saturated fat, salt, sugar and additives, which experts say leaves less room in people’s diets for more nutritious foods.
Some examples are ice cream, processed meats, biscuits, crisps and mass-produced bread.
These UPFs also tend to include additives and ingredients that are not used when people cook from scratch, such as preservatives, emulsifiers and artificial colours and flavours.
Previous studies have linked UPFs to an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer and early death.
The experts found that consumption of UPFs represented over 20% of daily food intake and more than 46% of daily energy intake in all diets among those studied.
Consumption of ultra-processed food among vegans was not “significantly different” from those of regular red meat eaters but their consumption of minimally processed foods was 3.2 percentage points higher.
Researchers also said the increasing consumption of plant-based milk and meat alternatives was “concerning”, as UPFs “produced purely from plant-derived substances are increasingly promoted by the UPF industry as healthy and sustainable alternatives to mobilise consumers’ transition away from meat-based diets”.
They added: “It is, therefore, important that urgently needed policies that address food system sustainability also promote rebalancing diets towards minimally processed foods away from UPFs.”
The study’s authors said meat tends to undergo less processing as it looks and tastes good in its natural state.
However, eating meat has a much more harmful impact on the climate.
The study comes amid a debate over the increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods.
In October 2024, two experts from the universities of Aberdeen and Liverpool co-wrote an article which warned that research around UPFs is still in its infancy and more needs to be known before people are told to stop consuming them.
The article, written by Professor Eric Robinson of the University of Liverpool and Professor Alexandra Johnstone of the University of Aberdeen, states there is a potential “social cost for many people with more limited resources” of removing convenient food options.
The authors, Professor Eric Robinson and Professor Alexandra Johnstone, also claimed that “avoiding some types of UPFs” could lead some people to choose alternatives “that are higher in energy or macronutrients of concern”.
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