From Italy to the United Kingdom, which countries consume the most ultra-processed foods in Europe?

Which countries consume the most ultra-processed foods? When we talk about this type of food, we probably think of the United States. But in Europe, this type of food also represents a significant portion of our diet.

That is why we are going to focus on our continent to find out which European countries are Those who consume the most foods of this type to try to better understand this phenomenon. Will the Mediterranean diet free us from ultra-processed foods?

Ultra-processed foods, as their name suggests, are foods that have been intensively processed before reaching the consumer. There is no precise “standard” definition of what processes are associated with ultra-processed foods, but there are some that we can use as a reference, such as: the of the British Heart Foundation or the NOVA classification, the one used by FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).

Following this classification, the FAO defines ultra-processed foods as “the formulation of ingredients, almost always exclusively for industrial use, typically created by a series of industrial techniques and processes.” It is based on this classification that a group of researchers recently evaluated the trends in the consumption of ultra-processed foods in different European countries.

And what did he say? the study about the biggest consumers in Europe? The answer It depends on what we are measuringFor example, if we take into account the weight of ultra-processed foods in the total amount of food consumed, the Netherlands stands out (20% of the food consumed by men in this country and 16.6% of that consumed by women falls into this category); also Sweden (22.9% among men and 20.9 among women), or the United Kingdom (17.2% among women).

The study also measured the weight of ultra-processed foods in caloric intake. Here, the United Kingdom (39.7% of the calories consumed by men in this country came from ultra-processed foods, 41.3% in the case of women) and Sweden (40.6% in men and 43.8% in women) again stand out.

On the opposite side, we can find countries like Estonia, Italy or Romania. Again, looking at the portion of food consumed en masse, we find that in the case of Italy, 6.4% of food consumed by men and 6.1% of food consumed by women falls into this category; while in the case of Estonia the proportion is 6.7% for men and 5.7% for women.

Regarding the countries where ultra-processed foods represent a smaller portion of the caloric intake, we have Italy (12.9% of the calories consumed by men in this country came from ultra-processed foods, 13.8% in the case of women), and Romania (14.6% in men and 15.8% in women).

And Spain?

The European average, in terms of mass, was 328 grams per day, 12% of all food consumed. Consumption in Spain in this regard was somewhat below average: 11.5% for men and 11.4% for women.

If we look at the caloric content of these foods, the European average is 27.2% of the calories consumed. Once again, Spain is slightly below the average, with 25% for men and 25.3% for women.

The bad news is that Spain is among the countries where, according to the study, faster grows the consumption of ultra-processed foods. While the study of these trends observed a “modest” decrease in most countries (between 2% and 15% drop), countries such as Finland, the United Kingdom and Spain saw an increase in the consumption of this type of food.

The study was conducted by a team from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. It mainly used data from the Food Consumption Survey Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database from the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority). This survey asked participants about the food consumed in the last 24 hours.

The team combined these measures with assessments of dietary quality, body mass index, or prevalence of certain diseases. The study was published in 2022 in the magazine European Journal of Nutrition.

When we talk about the use of ultra-processed foods in our diet, it is important to clarify that not all of them have the same negative impact on our health. The suitability of a product ultimately depends on its ingredients.

The problem with these foods is that they are often rich in salts and sugars and provide little nutritional value compared to their caloric intake. But “often” is not “always,” so while overall consumption of these foods can be a useful guide, it does not represent the whole picture.

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