A recent study led by the USDA Agricultural Research Services Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center has revealed that its possible to build a healthy diet with up to 91% of calories coming from ultra-processed foods, according to the NOVA scale, and still meet the recommendations from the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA).
Scientists from the USDAs Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center showed a healthy diet plan could comprise as much as 91% ultra-processed foods, in line with 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, although future research study will assess potential negative health results.
Researchers at the USDA Agricultural Research Services (ARS) Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center led a study that shows it is possible to construct a healthy diet with 91% of the calories originating from ultra-processed foods (as classified utilizing the NOVA scale) while still following the suggestions from the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). The study highlights the flexibility of using DGA recommendations in building healthy menus.
” The research study is a proof-of-concept that reveals a more balanced view of healthy eating patterns, where utilizing ultra-processed foods can be a choice,” stated ARS Research Nutritionist Julie Hess at the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center. “According to current dietary recommendations, the nutrient material of a food and its place in a food group are more crucial than the level to which a food was processed.”
Understanding the NOVA Scale
In the research study, scientists utilized the NOVA scale to determine which foods to categorize as ultra-processed. The NOVA scale first appeared in literature in 2009 and is the most typically utilized scale in nutrition science to classify foods by degree of processing.
According to the NOVA scale, foods can be categorized into 4 groups depending on their degree of processing:
Experiment Details
To check if ultra-processed foods can be utilized to develop a healthy diet, ARS researchers and partners developed a menu with breakfast, lunch, supper, and snacks using MyPyramid as a guide for a seven-day, 2,000-calorie food pattern The menu consisted of foods classified as ultra-processed by at least two NOVA graders. The foods included in the menu likewise aligned with 2020 DGA suggestions for servings of groups and subgroups of fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, and dairy.
Researchers picked food products that have lower levels of hydrogenated fats and added sugars while still including enough macronutrients and micronutrients. Some of the ultra-processed foods utilized in this menu consisted of canned beans, instant oatmeal, ultra-filtered milk, entire wheat bread, and dried fruit.
” We utilized the Healthy Eating Index to assess the quality of the diet as it lines up with key DGA suggestions,” said Hess. “The menu we established scored 86 of 100 points on the Healthy Eating Index-2015, fulfilling the majority of the thresholds, other than for salt content [surpassed recommendations] and entire grains [below recommendations]”. Future Research Directions.
While this research study has actually supplied valuable insights, more work is on the horizon. Scientists aim to dive much deeper into the topic, acknowledging that some observational research studies indicate that ultra-processed items might be associated with unfavorable health results.
This research reveals that there is a role for a range of foods when constructing a healthy diet which more research study is required in this field, especially intervention research studies.
Details of the study were published in The Journal of Nutrition.
Referral: “Dietary Guidelines Meet NOVA: Developing a Menu for A Healthy Dietary Pattern Using Ultra-Processed Foods” by Julie M. Hess, Madeline E. Comeau, Shanon Casperson, Joanne L. Slavin, Guy H. Johnson, Mark Messina, Susan Raatz, Angela J. Scheett, Anne Bodensteiner and Daniel G. Palmer, 24 June 2023, The Journal of Nutrition.DOI: 10.1016/ j.tjnut.2023.06.028.
Authors of the research study are Julie M. Hess (USDA-ARS), Madeline E. Comeau (USDA-ARS), Shanon Casperson (USDA-ARS), Joanne L. Slavin (University of Minnesota), Guy H. Johnson (Johnson Nutrition Solutions, LLC), Mark Messina (Soy Nutrition Institute Global), Susan Raatz (University of Minnesota), Angela J. Scheett (USDA-ARS), Anne Bodensteiner (University of North Dakota), Daniel G. Palmer (USDA-ARS).
Unprocessed or minimally processed foods.
Processed cooking active ingredients.
Processed foods.
Ultra-processed foods.