"Processed Foods"

The harmful effect of eating too much processed food has been in the news recently.  How much do these effects vary with different foods?

Processed foods often get bad press without any real justification.  While some processed foods contain relatively large amounts of ingredients we should be limited, such as salt, the range of processed foods available is diverse, and some can be convenient and healthy choices.

The term 'processed' is often misunderstood.  Anything done to raw food before it gets to our shelves is considered processing: drying lentils and milling flour would be qualify.

As well as making foods more convenient, processing (for example pasteurising, canning or freezing) enables them to be stored safely.  But some are better choices than others.  In particular, processed foods collectively provide around three quarters of the salt in our diet.  Canned carrots, for example, contain on average 14 times more salt than fresh ones, so if you can't get fresh carrots, frozen would be a better option (in theory still a processed food!).

Food labels can be very helpful when comparing the salt content of different products.  Although it would be impossible to give a comprehensive list of 'healthy' and 'less healthy' processed foods, food labels are a good place to start.

Information can be found by reading food labels and using them to make healthy choices at http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/food-labelling.aspx and http://nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/healthyeating/labels.  The British Heart Foundation also procudes a booklet called 'A Guide to Food Labelling', which can be downloaded from http://www.bhf.org.uk/.