New research suggests messaging telling people to avoid ultra-processed foods could have a deleterious effect on health.

Ultra-processed foods, or UPFS, include ice cream, processed meats, crisps, mass-produced bread, some breakfast cereals, biscuits and fizzy drinks.

Many of them are high in saturated fat, salt and sugar and additives, as well as preservatives, emulsifiers and artificial colours and flavours.

However, new research by the University of Aberdeen and the University of Liverpool suggests telling people to avoid UPFs may actually be harmful.

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In the new article, published in PLOS Medicine, experts argued that despite some studies showing a link to poor health, such as an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer and early death, less well-off people could be most affected by any blanket health warnings about UPFs without more scientific evidence.

The article states there is a potential “social cost for many people with more limited resources” of removing convenient options and the possible negative mental health impacts on “those who worry about their health or live with eating disorders, particularly if social circumstances make avoiding UPFs difficult”.

It continued that “avoiding some types of UPFs” could lead some people to choose alternatives “that are higher in energy or macronutrients of concern".

The paper concludes: "Based on the balance of current evidence, we do not believe it is appropriate to be advising consumers to avoid all UPFs and we await further evidence to inform consumer guidance on the need to limit consumption of specifics foods based on their degree or type of processing.”

The paper argues that public messaging should instead be focused on eating a diet full of fruit, vegetables and wholegrains, while also limiting foods high in fat, sugar and salt.

Professor Eric Robinson of the University of Liverpool, one of the authors of the article, said: “Foods classed as ultra-processed which are high in fat, salt and/or sugar should be avoided, but a number of ultra-processed foods are not.

“We should be thinking very carefully about what advice is being given to the public, as opposed to providing simplified and potentially misleading messages that grab headlines.”

Alexandra Johnstone, one of the authors of the studyAlexandra Johnstone, one of the authors of the study (Image: University of Aberdeen)

Professor Alexandra Johnstone, from the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen and one of the authors, said: “We must guard against the possibility that the people in our society who are already most at risk of not being able to afford to eat healthily are not put in an even worse position as we continue to investigate the links between some ultra-processed foods and poor health.

“We need more high-quality mechanistic research in humans, using controlled diets, to tease out the effects of nutrient profile and ultra-processing per se.”