Ideally, our meals should revolve around whole or minimally processed plant-based foods. Fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, seeds—food you recognize without needing an explanation on the label. These are the foods that have historically sustained populations with lower rates of chronic disease and a better quality of life.

In fact, however, the scenario has changed considerably. Much of what we put in our supermarket carts today is not just processed, but ultra-processed. These are industrial formulations created to be practical, highly palatable, and with a long shelf life. Products designed to last for months in storage, withstand transport, and maintain stable texture and flavor. Not always designed to benefit our long-term health.

A brief history: from scarcity to excess.

Modern nutrition emerged about a hundred years ago, attempting to solve problems of nutritional deficiency. There was a lack of energy, a lack of vitamins, and in this context, sugar was seen as a practical and inexpensive solution for calories.

Over the decades, the scenario changed. The challenge shifted from deficiency to excess. Obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and other chronic conditions began to increase. The concern now is with the excess of calories, saturated fats, sugars, and sodium. It was at this point that curious distortions emerged. Highly processed products, such as sugary cereals with added fiber, began to be promoted as "healthy" because they contained a specific nutrient.

Science then began to take a step further, moving beyond the isolated view of nutrients such as fat, sugar, or protein, and starting to observe food in its entirety. More recently, the focus has advanced even further by incorporating a decisive factor: the degree of processing and how much that food has been industrially transformed before reaching the plate.

From food to processing: the turning point

Dietary guidelines have begun to encourage more vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, and nuts. But there is a huge difference between a homemade vegetable soup and an industrial version full of salt, flavorings, and stabilizers.

It was in this context that Professor Carlos Monteiro of the Center for Epidemiological Research in Nutrition and Health (NUPENS) at the University of São Paulo (USP) presented a proposal that changed the debate about food. Instead of classifying foods solely by their nutrient content, he suggested organizing them according to the degree and purpose of industrial processing. Thus, the NOVA System was born. The great innovation of NOVA was to draw attention to so-called ultra-processed foods as a distinct category, with potential negative effects that go beyond the isolated content of nutrients.

The NOVA system organizes all foods and food products into four main groups, based on the nature, extent, and purpose of industrial processing:

🔸Group 1 - Unprocessed or minimally processed foods: Fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, meats, and fish in their simplest form. They can be fresh, frozen, dried, or cooked, as long as they are free of harmful additives.

🔸Group 2 - Culinary ingredients:  Salt, oils, sugar, and fats used to prepare food.

🔸Group 3 - Processed foods: Products made by adding ingredients from Group 2 to foods from Group 1. Examples: canned goods, cheeses, traditional breads.

🔸Group 4 - Ultra-processed foods: Industrial formulations that, in addition to salt, sugar, oils and fats, contain substances that we do not use at home: flavorings, colorings, artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers and other additives created to imitate, intensify or mask the characteristics of food.

The central idea is simple and powerful: "Food, not nutrients, is the fundamental unit of nutrition."

What defines an ultra-processed food?

Some characteristics help to identify it:

• They cannot be reproduced in a home kitchen due to industrial chemical or physical transformations.

• They typically contain little or no whole foods.

• They are ready to eat or just heat up.

• They are often very fatty, salty, or sugary and low in fiber and other nutrients.

• They include additives for color, flavor, texture, and preservation that mimic the qualities of whole foods.

Typical examples: Packaged snacks, industrial ice cream, soft drinks, candies, potato chips, processed hamburgers, sausages, chicken and fish nuggets.

Sometimes, the packaging shows more fruit in the image than is actually inside the product.

Why does this matter for health?

The importance of the "ultra-processed" label goes beyond simply stating that a food is high in sugar or fat. Before NOVA, food processing was rarely discussed in public policy and nutritional education. Today, it is a topic of active research, with studies linking higher consumption of ultra-processed foods to elevated risks of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions, although investigations continue to clarify the mechanisms and causality.

The scientific hypothesis is that the negative effects may involve:

• The combination of multiple additives

• Changes in satiety and appetite control

• The physical structure of food, which influences chewing and absorption.

• Possible contaminants from packaging

How to apply this knowledge in everyday life.

✅ Prioritize foods from Group 1: Fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds.

✅ Cook more: Meals prepared at home tend to use fewer additives and fewer processed ingredients.

✅ Read labels carefully: Avoid products with long lists of ingredients, chemical names, dyes, and emulsifiers.

✅ Opt for simpler versions: Plain yogurt without artificial flavorings, whole-wheat breads with few ingredients, and low-sodium canned goods.

✅ Don't confuse packaging with quality: Not everything in the box is ultra-processed, but the degree of transformation matters.

More than counting calories or focusing on just one isolated nutrient, it makes sense to look at food as a whole and how much it has been industrially modified. Reducing the consumption of ultra-processed foods and rediscovering simpler preparations is a practical, realistic, and sustainable strategy for improving health over time.

Ultimately, the question worth asking at the supermarket is simple: does this still look like real food?

Source: 

Videographer: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/what-are-ultra-processed-foods/

All scientific articles mentioned are available in the video description. To access them, use the "Sources Cited" tab when browsing on a computer or the "Sources" tab on the mobile version.