Processed foods have been produced since ancient civilizations, as consumable food available during disasters (natural, war), and off seasons1. With the industrial revolution during the last century, and the continuous growth of the world population, the definition and way of looking at processed foods have changed. These processed foods are useful to counter the food security issue to keep hunger at bay across the globe.
Normally, food industries using high-end technologies produce ultra-processed food to preserve it for a longer duration rather than prioritize it to keep their nutritional values intact2. Every year, several chemical compounds are added to the extensive list of food additives. This extensive list is not concerned with nutritional values or potential health hazards leading to long-term
health complications. Sometimes, after a prolonged period of selling ultra-processed food products, international bodies ban one particular food additive once major health issues are reported by physicians and major health organizations worldwide3. Unfortunately, the major part of the population has already borne the consequences due to that food additive. Therefore, careful monitoring of long-term health complications of ultra-processed foods in a medical laboratory prior to their commercialization is absolutely necessary. Diseases like cancer, thyroid malfunction, type 2 diabetes, digestive issues, kidney problems, cardiac issues, nutritional imbalance, and chronic non-communicable diseases occur upon long-term consumption of ultra-processed
food products4. More focus has been given to the production and maintenance of food security in the world, but questions about health and food safety emerge. The industries involving these ultra-processed foods advertise on social media, TV, banner, newspaper, etc., to accelerate their company revenue at the cost of human health, ignoring possible interaction of ultra-processed food in the body’s metabolism5. Physicians in coordination with international institutions should prepare a regulatory policy on safe consumption of ultra-processed foods to live a healthy life6,7. A statutory label similar to that on alcohol and tobacco products should be pasted on ultra-processed foods. During pregnancy, underage children, the elderly, and people with underlying diseases should also be warned on processed food packages. This can revolutionize ultra-processed foods labelling and contribute to the well-being of humans by keeping several vulnerable diseases at a distance8. Due to this, food safety awareness among children, pregnant women, elderly, and people prone to diseases can be increased. If successful coordination is made between physicians and the food industries, the major root cause of health problems can be tackled. Thus, a step towards genuine food security with healthy ultra-processed foods can be achieved.
Authors’ Contributions
Dr. Sujitraj Sheth – Literature search, Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing-review and editing.
Conflicts of Interest
I declare no competing interests.
Funding Sources
No funding sources to declare.
Sujitraj Sheth ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4082-6424
References
1. Jatoi AS, Iqbal A, Nasir BO, Baig O, Akram S. History and Importance of Food Processing, Integrated Food and Bioprocessing. Springer, Cham. 2025; pp. 3-12. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-87209-9_1.
2. Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Moubarac JC, Levy RB, Louzada MLC, Jaime PC. The UN Decade of Nutrition, the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing. Public Health Nutr. 2018; 21: 5-17. Doi: 10.1017/S1368980017000234.
3. Ghebreyesus TA. Achieving health for all requires action on the economic and commercial determinants of health. Lancet. 2023; 401: 1137-1139. Doi: 10.1016/ S0140-6736(23)00574-3.
4. Srour B, Kordahi MC, Bonazzi E, Deschasaux-Tanguy M, Touvier M, Chassaing B. Ultra-processed foods and human health: from epidemiological evidence to mechanistic insights. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2022; 7: 1128-1140. Doi: 10.1016/S2468- 1253(22)00169-8.
