KTK-Nutrition

Everyone has heard of “processed foods”.   But now they talk about “ultra-processed” foods.   When teaching nutrition we did talk about why processed foods can be unhealthy but only recently has the term “ultra-processed” foods come into vogue.   In a previous blog post, Should You Avoid Ultraprocessed Food? , I noted that some of my students say that to eat healthy one should avoid “processed food”.   What they did not seem to understand is that most of the food we eat is processed to some extent.   Whole wheat bread is a healthy choice but bread is a “processed food”.   They harvest the grain, mill the grain, make the flour and then make the bread.   Cereal, canned vegetables, frozen vegetables, 100% juice – all are processed to some extent.   But now there is “ultraprocessed food”.   These foods are not only highly processed but often contain a lot of added sugar, salt and fat as well as preservatives and many have artificial coloring ad...

If you listen to the commercials, high fructose corn syrup is the same as white table sugar and has no adverse health consequences.   But is that true?   For years now, I just try to avoid foods that have high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient.   Not easy to do as manufacturers love to sneak this sugar into everything from bread to catsup.   Many manufacturers know there are consumers that are like me and try to avoid high fructose corn syrup so they make a catsup without it then charge more. Why high fructose corn syrup?   Manufacturers love it as it is easy to ship, has a long shelf life and is cheaper than sugar.    It improves the texture of cookies, and browns better in breads.      What is HCFS?   It is comprised of fructose and glucose and manufacturers use it in place of sugar.   It has the same caloric value of sugar, 4 calories per gram. Is HCFS Bad for our Health?   Many researchers would say no but mo...