The Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council’s Whole Grain Week is coming soon (next week!). We’re bringing you Elissa Price, PhD Candidate at the University of New South Wales to discuss her research findings on ultra-processed foods (UPF) and whole grains.

We cover:

• What is food processing?
• Why are foods processed? Is it always bad?
• What is an UPF?
• The latest evidence on UPFs and health
• Regardless of how whole grains are processed, what does the research tell us about whole grains and health?
• Can UPFs be part of a healthy diet?
• Elissa’s three key takeaways on UPFs and whole grains

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

“They categorise foods based on the level of processing and that UPF is that more extreme group of processing. They define an UPF based on the nature, extent and purpose of the food processing and are identified foods that have gone through more extensive processing.”

“Higher ultra-processed food intake and worse health outcomes. Some of those being obesity, cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, irritable bowel syndrome, depression and all-cause mortality. There is a lot of research happening in this space and a lot of links being made.”


References

Whole-grain health benefits

Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet, 2019. 393(10184): p. 1958-1972.

UPF health associations

Taneri, P.E., et al., Association Between Ultra-Processed Food İntake and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Am J Epidemiol, 2022.

Martínez Steele, E., et al., Dietary share of ultra-processed foods and metabolic syndrome in the US adult population. Preventive Medicine, 2019. 125: p. 40-48.

Lane, M.M., et al., Higher Ultra-Processed Food Consumption Is Associated with Greater High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein Concentration in Adults: Cross-Sectional Results from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study. Nutrients, 2022. 14(16): p. 3309.

Beslay, M., et al., Ultra-processed food intake in association with BMI change and risk of overweight and obesity: A prospective analysis of the French NutriNet-Santé cohort. PLOS Medicine, 2020. 17(8): p. e1003256.

Nova UPF subgroup associations

Mendoza, K., et al., Ultra-processed foods and cardiovascular disease: analysis of three large US prospective cohorts and a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, 2024. 37.

Chen, Z., et al., Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Three Large Prospective U.S. Cohort Studies. Diabetes Care, 2023. 46(7): p. 1335-1344.

Cordova, R., et al., Consumption of ultra-processed foods and risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a multinational cohort study. The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

Nova UPF whole-grain exclusion

Price, E.J., et al., Excluding whole grain-containing foods from the Nova ultraprocessed food category: a cross-sectional analysis of the impact on associations with cardiometabolic risk measures. Am J Clin Nutr, 2024.

Nova and ADG discordance

Nguyen, H., et al., Extent of alignment between the Australian Dietary Guidelines and the NOVA classification system across the Australian packaged food supply. Nutr Diet, 2024.

Join us for a conversation on alternative proteins through the lens of nutrition and health.

We cover:

• What are alternative proteins?
• What are complementary proteins?
• Mainstream media on diet, health and alternative proteins
• Are conventional processed meat products (e.g. sausages, bacon) improving the nutritional profile of their products?
• Food Frontiers position on the ultra-processed foods
• How alternative proteins could be positioned within the Australian Dietary Guidelines

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

“We are told constantly through dietary guidelines and information that comes out of health associations that processed meats are very bad for us. And it’s gone to the extreme in some cases - state governments in Australia banning the use in school canteens of some of the processed meats. As by definition they are heavily processed, they have all sorts of processes involved in the production of that product that we now understand are detrimental to health and in some cases carcinogenic. ”

“I think we are going to see the growth of portfolios within government that have a clear focus on food systems because it is going to become essential. We are seeing in Australia the pressure on our food systems that are coming from climate change, particularly areas that have been impacted by food and draught.”

To drink juice or not to drink juice? Tim Cassettari has been researching juice for the past 3 years, so we are in excellent hands as we cover the latest research on juice and health.

We cover:

• Why study juice?
• What do dietary guidelines say about juice?
• The latest research
• Health benefits and health risks of juice
• The effect of juice on satiety & weight, dental health, brain health, gut health
• The optimal amount and type of juice
• What about pulp?
• The different types of juice processing and their effect on health
• Why might 100% juice have health benefits?
• How concerned should we be about sugars?
• What to look for on the label
• Practical considerations of juice
• Bigger picture health & nutrition learnings that can be taken from juice

One-liners you don’t want to miss:

“Under extreme conditions juice can lead to worsening to some markers of dental health but we don’t actually have evidence to say that’s the case in normal circumstances.”

“100% juice can also improve markers of cardiovascular health and help to lower markers of chronic inflammation.”

“We now have 19 randomised controlled trials comparing 100% juice to non-calorie beverages, so that could be water, an artificially sweetened beverage. There is not one study that shows any change in body weight with 100% juice. ”