The ultra-processed food Britain’s top nutritionist avoids

We all know by now that a high intake of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is bad for health. Research has connected UPFs to an increased risk of obesity, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome and heart disease. It has also been linked to the rise in colorectal cancer in younger people, according to new research by Cancer Research UK. However, it’s not quite as simple as all or nothing.

Nutritionists and epidemiologists use what’s known as the Nova classification to group foods from 1-4: 1-3 covering those foods that are unprocessed or minimally processed cooking ingredients such as butter; group 4 being foods that are industrially manufactured and made almost entirely from compounds extracted from foods and using chemicals synthesised in laboratories, with artificial cosmetic additives as part