Inside Cookery: The danger of ultra-processed foods

In Inside Time’s monthly recipe column, a prison nutritionist provides ideas for creating your own tasty and wholesome dishes

Evidence continues to accumulate highlighting the health risks of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). A recent European report has described the impact of UPFs on heart health. This landmark consensus report, the opinion of many experts, was published by the European Society of Cardiology. It details evidence that supports a significant connection between UPFs and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). It also identified UPFs as being primary contributors to conditions like obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes, all of which increase the risk of CVD.

UPFs generally tend to be higher in energy, saturated or trans fats, sugar and salt, while lacking essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and fibre. Many contain artificial additives. It’s hard to avoid them in industrially produced foods and the only real answer is cooking from scratch, where you know that only basic ingredients are used so you can control the amount of sugar, fat and salt.

The UK has one of the highest rates of UPF consumption in Europe, with UPFs accounting for 54% of the nation’s total energy intake. The report emphasises that structural barriers such as marketing and availability influence food choices, so environments must be created to support healthy food choices. Because people serving custodial sentences are entirely reliant on the institution for their food environment, prison authorities have direct control over these structural barriers. They therefore have a responsibility to create environments where people can make healthier non-UPF choices. They could do this by:

• Prioritising UPF-free and cooked-from-scratch meals and highlighting them on the menus

• Making UPF-free items on the canteen easily identifiable

• Ensuring that non-UPF food and drink products dominate the canteen list (currently the reverse applies, with UPF product lines far outnumbering minimally processed food and drink)

• Promoting heart health and other health aspects related to less processed diets, for example on wellbeing days, in health promotion materials and via digital resources.

In theory, the Food in Prisons Policy Framework published last year should address UPFs on menus. However, initial feedback from people in prisons suggests that there is still a lot of highly processed food being served on the menus. The framework does not address the canteen, and it remains unclear how the new retail framework, currently being developed, will address health and the imbalance of healthier food choices available.

UPF-free Platter 

Ingredients

• Rye crackers or rice cakes

• Cheese – saved back from a meal if you can’t buy it on the canteen

• Fresh veg assortment (e.g. cucumber chunks, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes)

• Fresh fruit assortment (e.g. sliced melon, strawberries, orange, apple)

• Handful of unsalted nuts (e.g. almonds, walnuts)

Method

Make up this delicious and attractive plate with crackers and basic wholesome ingredients. Simply arrange the ingredients on a plate. Ideal for breakfast or a light lunch.

Helen Sandwell is the Inside & Out Project Lead at Food Matters, which produces the Her Wellbeing and His Wellbeing newsletters. Both are available digitally via Launchpads, Coracle devices and on Virtual Campus.