The solution for safer, greener, more nutritious food?

The solution for safer, greener, more nutritious food?

Focus on ultra-processed food (UPF) amongst the nutrition research community is growing apace. In the last three years alone, researchers have suggested links between consumption of UPFs with increased health risks, ranging from the development of cancer​ to dementia​, and increased risk of mortality.

The impact of UPF production on environmental sustainability is another area of concern, with researchers linking increased consumption to higher greenhouse gas emissions​.

But some nutritionists and food engineers argue UPFs yield numerous benefits for human and planetary health in the form of safe, nutritious, and environmentally sustainable food for the mass market.

Nutritional benefits of food processing

Food processing is a broad term used to describe change in food as the result of heat, chemistry, or force. In the kitchen, common examples of food processing include boiling potatoes, grating carrots, or using baking powders to make cakes rise in the oven.

Humans have been consuming processed food for more than two million years – beginning with stone tools, rather than today’s steel or aluminium equipment – with obvious nutritional benefits.

“Early examples [of food processing] increased the…availability of nutrients and energy in foods, by cutting off pieces of meat and vegetables to make them easier to eat,” ​explained Andreas Hakansson, senior lecturer at the department of food technology, engineering and nutrition, from Lund University in Sweden.

Today much of the processing takes place within an industrial setting, but Hakansson argues the practices continues to play a key role in ensuring the availability of nutrients and energy.

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