Vegetarians eat more ultra-processed foods (UPF) than their carnivorous counterparts, a major UK study has revealed.
While the diet can be packed with fresh fruit and vegetables, vegetarians can also consume hefy amounts of UPFs like chocolate bars, ready meals, frozen pizzas, and sodas.
A team of experts, led by Imperial College London, surveyed nearly 200,000 Brits on their daily average UPF intake as well as their diet in general.
They found UPFs accounted for a fifth of the diet of all participants but vegetarians were the most likely to rely on them.
Overall, the researchers found they ate significantly more ultra-processed foods than ‘regular red meat eaters’ — defined in the study as eating red meat more than once a week.
Vegans, despite a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and legumes were also big UPF consumers, eating just as much as the carnivores.
Instead, it was those who ate red meat sporadically and moderately and pescatarians who were least likely to rely on UPFs.
The authors said their results also found a rise in the consumption of UPF plant-based milks and fake meats among plant-conscious vegetarians, vegans and pescatarians, which they called ‘concerning’.
‘UPFs produced purely from plant-derived substances are increasingly promoted by the UPF industry as healthy and sustainable alternatives to mobilise consumers’ transition away from meat-based diets,’ they wrote in the journal EClinicalMedicine.
Vegetarians eat more ultra-processed foods (UPF) than their more carnivore inclined counterparts, a major study on Brits has revealed. Stock image
‘It is, therefore, important that urgently needed policies that address food system sustainability also promote rebalancing diets towards minimally processed foods away from UPFs.’
Multiple experts have highlighted how plant milks and fake meats aren’t the healthy swaps consumers might assume, and could even be linked to cardiovascular disease.
The authors of the current study, which also included scientists from France and Brazil, highlighted research that suggested UPF consumption in general is linked to a host of health problems, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and even cancer and death.
Despite vegans eating, on average, as many or more UPFs than meat-eaters, the experts noted their diets were healthier overall with more fibre and lower total calories, saturated fats and salt than other groups.
The authors attributed this to higher overall consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables.
The study had a number of limitations, one being the low proportion of vegans included —just 159.
Experts also noted that the data, collected as part of long-running study between 2006 and 2010, was based on participants’ recollection of their diet which is known to be subjective and unreliable.
They also noted that the study group seemed to eat fewer UPFs than the average Brit, with some estimates suggesting these foods now make up 57 per cent of the national diet, the highest proportion in Europe.
UPFs are a staple of the modern British diet and is an umbrella term that covers a host of foods packed with artificial colourings, sweeteners and preservatives that extend shelf life
UPFs cover a host of food and drinks packed with artificial colourings, sweeteners and preservatives as well as, typically, calories and sugar.
Examples include ready meals, ice cream and even ketchup.
They typically undergo multiple industrial processes which research has found degrades the physical structure of foods, making it rapid to absorb.
This in turn can raise the risk of blood sugar spikes and peaks, reducing satiety.
It has also been said to damage the microbiome — the community of ‘friendly’ bacteria that live inside us and which we depend for good health.
UPFs are thought to be a key driver of obesity, which costs the NHS around £6.5billion a year.
However, experts have repeatedly urged caution about linking UPF consumption to health problems.
Many find the term UPF too broad as it considers a wholemeal loaf of bread, which has some health benefits, and a ready meal packed with salt, fat and sugar, as the same type of food according to its classification system.
This, some experts argue, can make it unclear which UPFs might be causing particular health problems.
Researchers have also highlighted that UPFs themselves might not be directly causing health problems observed in studies.
Instead, they’ve suggested eating lots of UPFs could be a symptom of other issues like poverty which can reduce people’s intake of fresh fruit and vegetables.
