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Current U.K. regulatory systems for food and drink identify only around half of processed and ultraprocessed products as unhealthy—in other words, those that contain excess fat, salt, sugar and energy density—finds research published in BMJ Medicine. But new nutrient profiling, based on official U.K. dietary guidance, classifies more than 90% of these products as unhealthy. A single unified regulatory system, using agreed definitions, that is aligned with this guidance may offer the best way forward, say the researchers.
The three systems used to identify unhealthy food and drink products in the U.K. and inform regulation and policy are The Eatwell Guide (official dietary guidance), the Food Standards Agency nutrient profiling model (FSA NPM) (regulation), and front-of-pack traffic lights labeling (regulation), explain the researchers.
But there are gaps and misalignments in the classification criteria of these systems, so that products rated as unhealthy by one aren't rated as unhealthy by another. But to date, no study has directly tested these inconsistencies, the researchers point out.
They therefore compared the nutrient content classifications of 262 processed items and 1,636 ultraprocessed items consumed by the general public from the nationally representative National Diet and Nutrition Survey database for Year 12 (2019–20).
Based on the official dietary Eatwell guidance, they constructed three new nutrient profiles to identify excess saturated fat, free sugar, salt (sodium), total fat and energy density in these processed and ultraprocessed products.
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