When ultra-processed foods were invented, people didn’t want to eat them. Now we trust them.

Ultra-processed foods like chicken nuggets, sweet breakfast cereals, and soda aren’t all bad.

They are usually cheap and easy to prepare, and they keep longer on shelves.

They are also scientifically developed to be what the human brain considers tasty.

But they often contain high levels of fat, salt and sugar, meaning their long-term consumption carries serious health risks.

Experts say Australians have We have now reached a point of dependence on ultra-processed foods, as cost-of-living pressures put healthier options out of reach for many.

Amanda Lee, from the University of Queensland School of Public Health, says that for the average Australian family of four, 61 per cent of the food budget goes to unhealthy foods and drinks.

“I find this really revealing,” says Professor Lee.

So… how did we get here? And is it possible to turn back time?

The beginning of food preservation.

When food processing first took off in the early 20th century, the industry was completely unregulated, says Kevin Hall of the US National Institutes of Health.

He says companies were experimenting with adding chemicals to try to preserve products longer, sometimes with dangerous consequences.

“It was actually one of the reasons the Food and Drug Administration was created in the United States (in 1906), because of all the adulterants in food,” Dr. Hall tells ABC’s Rear Vision RN.

“There was a big wave of… really acute food illnesses that were caused by manufacturers trying to make cheap food available to people that would keep as well as possible.

“Now we have an analogous problem: (processed foods) are making people chronically ill with diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases.”

Over the decades, processed foods have made consumers sick for different reasons.(ABC News: Jennifer Rey)

The turning point for food processing was World War II. as resources were poured into figuring out how to produce food that could be stored for months and easily transported to feed thousands of soldiers overseas.

The result was what culinary historian Laura Shapiro describes as “a bonanza of canned meats” offered in the United States, including the “indestructible lunch meat known as Spam.”

“There were canned dinners with ham and sweet potatoes, canned pork with applesauce, canned bacon, dried potatoes, and powdered orange juice,” Shapiro says.

Redefining ‘kitchen’

After the war, however, Shapiro says food companies faced a difficult challenge: convincing people that processed foods were not only tasty, but were an acceptable substitute for a meal cooked from scratch.

“It was a very, very important thing to (change) the psychology of cooking, to redefine the word ‘cook’ to mean opening a box,” he says.

Ultra-processed foods really took off in the 1950s, but it took convincing initially. (Getty: CSA Images)

Then came fast food.

In the 1950s, McDonald’s quickly gained popularity in the United States and the first Australian outlet opened in Sydney in 1971.

Shapiro says the fast food giant It changed the cultural idea of ​​what a meal was.

“Technically it was a meal, meaning it was a burger and fries,” he says.

“But there was nothing around it that made it a meal. You might not have even sat down at a table to eat it.”

The first McDonald’s franchise opened in the United States in 1955. It is now a museum. (Getty: patty_c)

Microwaves, which became a common household appliance in the 1980s in the United States and Australia, were another boost for processed foods.

“The food industry immediately produced, with microwave ovens in mind, a trillion things,” Shapiro says.

“Everything on Earth was made in individual, microwaveable portions.”

Definition of ‘ultra-processed foods’

In the late 2000s, the processed food industry took a hit.

The NOVA food classification system was developed by a group of researchers, led by Carlos Monteiro, from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

It means that, for the first time, foods were classified according to their level of processing, rather than their nutritional profile. And there was a separate category for “ultra-processed foods.”

American molecular biologist and nutritionist Marion Nestle says ultra-processed foods are essentially anything that can’t be prepared at home.

Take products made from corn as an example.

Corn is a common ingredient in ultra-processed foods. (Getty: celsopupo)

“Corn on the cob is unprocessed, canned corn is processed, and Doritos chips are ultra-processed,” says Dr. Nestlé.

“You can’t make them. You don’t have the flavors, you don’t have the additives and you don’t have the machinery.”

Once a definition was established, studies were conducted on the impacts of consuming ultra-processed foods.

In 2019, Dr. Hall led the first randomized trial with 20 healthy adults.

All participants were given two nutritionally equivalent diets, but one was made up of ultra-processed foods and the other was made up of minimally processed foods.

Dr. Hall says they found that people were eating a lot more ultra-processed foods – about 500 more calories per day.

The exact reason for this is unclear. However, neuroscientist and obesity researcher Stephan Guyenet says that the concentration and combination of fats, sugar, carbohydrates and salt in ultra-processed foods makes it scientifically more difficult to stop eating them.

“Those are properties that tend to trigger the release of dopamine in the brain, which is a chemical responsible for learning and motivation, including food,” says Dr. Guyenet, who is also the author of The Hungry Brain.

Where are we now?

Today we know that ultra-processed foods do not fit into most of our diets.

However, Professor Lee says ultra-processed and “discretionary” (or junk) foods and drinks are taking up an increasing portion of Australians’ overall diet.

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“Regardless of how people define… junk food, whether it’s ultra-processed foods or discretionary foods… we know that for most Australians, there is very little room in our sedentary lifestyle to consume any of those food.

But Phil Baker, from the Deakin School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, says getting people to change their diet is difficult, especially in the current cost of living crisis.

He says Australia has become reliant on ultra-processed foods, especially among lower socioeconomic groups, as it is cheaper to buy instant noodles, for example, than fresh fruit, vegetables and meat.

Fresh foods are particularly expensive and sometimes not available in remote areas. (ABC News: Steven Schubert)

“It’s very difficult for us to say that we should tax and regulate these foods that are so cheap (when) so many people depend on them simply to feed themselves (and) their families,” Dr. Baker says.

New technology improves access

It should be noted that not all food processing is inherently harmful. New technologies are emerging that extend the shelf life of food, without depleting its nutrients.

Charles Darwin University’s Warren Hunt and his team are exploring how thermal heat and drying technology can be used to process fruit, meat and vegetables for distribution to some of those most reliant on unhealthy food: the remote Aboriginal communities of Australia.

“We’re not trying to reinvent canned meat or canned Spam, we’re looking at novel technologies that enable higher quality, clean label products to be produced,” says Dr Hunt, leader of the Northern Australia Food Technology Innovation Project. .

“In other words, they don’t necessarily have to be full of salts and other preservatives.

Dr Hunt says a distribution facility in the Northern Territory, which he hopes to get funding to trial, would mean people who often don’t have reliable access to a refrigerator or cooking facilities could have healthier options on their shelves.

All Australians should have reliable access to healthy food, regardless of their postcode or income, it says.