Nutrition: The price we pay for ultra

The headlines this week have once again been highlighting the adverse health effects of ultra-processed foods.

The difference this time is that for those of you who are regular readers of my column and consider your diet healthy, you may have been surprised to learn that a lot of what you are consuming is defined as ultra-processed food.

It's not just ready meals and fizzy drinks that are a problem.

The term ultra-processed foods – or UPF – was only coined 15 years ago but it makes up about half the foods we now eat, and the potential health effects are enormous.

Increasing our risk of conditions such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, dementia and cancer, the food industry is putting our health under threat.

Our diets are packed with these convenience foods, and even if you do your very best to eat a nutritious, healthy, balanced diet, it can be almost impossible to avoid these factory-produced foods.

Everything from wholemeal bread, breakfast cereals, shop-bought houmous, flavoured yoghurts, ham and sausages to your favourite biscuits and soft drinks, may contain ingredients you are unlikely to find in nature.

Over the years food manufacturers and diet clubs have encouraged us to eat foods with a whole host of health claims, from low fat foods to fortified cereals.

Any health claim on the front of a pack is likely to be thanks to an ingredient that has been added in by a food manufacturer, rather than highlighting the natural benefits a whole, unprocessed, naturally healthy food.

Let's take a low-fat yoghurt as an example. This is a popular choice for many people who are watching their weight, but read the ingredients list and you will find something like this:

"Yogurt (milk), strawberries (9%), water, modified maize starch, flavourings, colouring. Food: beetroot juice concentrate,sweetener: aspartame, acidity regulators: citric acid, sodium citrates, Stabiliser: Pectins."

Compare this to the ingredients list on a natural yoghurt, which reads simply: "Ingredients: yoghurt."

I know which one I want in my trolley, don't you?

Just last month, the World Health Organization voiced concerns about the long-term health consequences of sweeteners like aspartame potentially increasing the risk of "type 2 diabetes, heart diseases and mortality".

Aspartame is found as a sugar replacement in so many so-called healthy foods, and yet it may be worse for us than the alternative.

Here are some simple ideas to help you reduce your intake of UPFs: