DECRYPTION
The magazine 60 million consumers published Thursday a special issue with the shock title: "eat without poisoning". The monthly magazine insists on the risks of "ultra-processed" industrial foods that invade our plates: pizzas, salty snacks or other pastries. According to a 2017 study, these industrial foods in France represent 36% of our calorie intake, and they can have deleterious effects on our health: cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc. How to spot these foods dangerous to our health on supermarket shelves? 60 million consumers have screened a hundred products to paint the typical portrait of ultra-processed food.
Beware of unknown ingredients
Particular vigilance is required in the breakfast department. In fact, whether pastries, cereals or spreads, about 90% of the foods sold to prepare the first meal of the day are ultra-processed products. And to be sure, just read the list of ingredients. If you find compounds there that do not exist in your kitchen cupboards, such as hydrogenated fat or modified starch, for example, you have an ultra-modified food in your hands.
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No more than five components
Second clue: the size of the label. The more ingredients, preferably the obscure name, the greater the risk. A chocolate bar with more than five components is an ultra-processed food. Another example, cited by 60 million consumers : the Paysan Breton cheese spread whose recipe contains only milk and Guérande salt is better than Kiri which has nine ingredients including gelling agent and cast iron salts.
Reading product labels before putting them in your cart has direct health consequences: those who read them weigh an average of 4 kilos less than those who do not read them, according to an international study published in 2012.
Too crisp to be honest?
Finally, and it is not written on the label, the industrial manufacturing process is also a marker. The ultra processed food is often crunchy, crunchy like crisps, certain pizzas or cereals.