Researchers are reporting progress toward a food labeling system that could allow consumers to quickly and easily identify the degree of processing of foods available at grocery stores. In the future, the labels could help people reduce their consumption of ultra-processed foods, which have been linked to heart disease, obesity, and other chronic conditions.
Currently, there is no easy way to tell the degree of processing in foods. Processed foods contain many food additives such as high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and artificial dyes. Using a special algorithm, researchers analyzed 50,000 foods available at three large grocery retailers in the United States on the basis of their degree of processing. They then assigned a score to these foods based on how processed they were. The higher the score, the more ultra-processed a food is.
In theory, a person who enters a grocery store for a food item would be able to compare similar food items based on their processing score and choose the one with the least processing. The labeling system, which is produced thorough artificial intelligence, is still under development and not available in stores yet. Researchers hope to refine the system and use it on a large-scale in the future. The goal is to improve public health, they say.
Their study, funded in part by the NHLBI, was published in Nature Food.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For more information about NIH-supported research on ultra-processed foods and health, click here for our NHLBI feature article.