Want to stop people dying early from ultra-processed foods? Make sure everyone can afford the 'healthy' choice

A new study by Harvard researchers, conducted over 30 years, has demonstrated what is perhaps the clearest link between eating a lot of ultra-processed foods and an early death to date. Results showed that those who ate the most ultra processed food, around seven servings per day, had a 4% higher risk of death by any cause - and a 9% higher risk of death relating to neurodegenerative conditions.

Researchers added that different kind of ultra-processed foods yielded different results. Meat products like chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and bacon have a bigger impact than ultra-processed grains - such as breakfast cereals. But with the cost of living crisis reaching epidemic proportions, what are struggling families supposed to do? How can they make sure everyone has enough to eat - when budgets are already stretched so thin?

Before writing this, I did a quick price check at 3 UK supermarkets; Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Aldi - comparing the price of their own-brand and largely unprocessed chicken breasts, to chicken nuggets. Sainsbury’s offers fresh, packaged chicken breasts in a range of sizes, with the largest package coming out the cheapest at £5.99 per kg. To compare, the supermarket’s own-brand breaded chicken breast nuggets come to just £3.44 per kg.

The pattern plays out much the same at the others. Tesco’s British chicken breast portions come out to £5.50 per kg if you buy a larger pack, but it also sells 1kg bags of nuggets (about 72 of them) for £4.25. At Aldi, you can buy great big 2kg packages of fresh ‘Ashfields’ brand chicken breasts for £6 a kilo - or you can spend £3.44 buying a kilo’s worth of ‘Roosters’ brand chicken nuggets. Plant-based alternatives or free-range options are a completely different ball game, often working out much pricier.

The breaded nuggets are simple too - just pop them in the oven and soon you’ll be good to go. The chicken breasts come sans seasoning, requiring you to prepare and cook them yourself, not always easy if you’re balancing long working days, housework, and childcare. If you leave them in the fridge for more than a few days they’ll go off - as will the likes of fruit - as opposed to freezer-friendly nuggets or packaged, processed snacks like crisps or cereal bars. It works out much cheaper to buy the ‘healthy’ options in bulk, but why would you if you’re not going to have time to use it all before it goes off?

This new research is just more evidence on a growing pile pointing to the risks that eating a lot of ultra-processed foods pose to people’s health. Having gone through multiple industrial processes, these products are all-too-often laden with excess sugar, salt, and fat, as well as preservatives, sweeteners, and artificial colours and flavourings we wouldn’t be adding to our own food at home. Other studies have linked them with increased cancer risk, heart disease, diabetes, and even anxiety and depression. These products appear to be directly hurting people - and if you’re somebody who likes to think about things in financial terms, placing a huge burden on the NHS.

Yet more research from the City University of London shows that lower-income people and families are effectively being locked out from making any other choice. We all need to keep ourselves and our loved ones from going hungry - it’s one of the most basic human needs - and at the end of the day, we can only afford what we can afford, and prepare what we have time for - and what the kids are guaranteed to eat.

Experts have plenty of recommendations on how to solve this problem, and it’s not taxing or further limiting people’s options. Instead, it’s expanding access to food vouchers - like the ‘Healthy Start’ programme - for one. Or reconsidering the UK’s minimum wage laws - guaranteeing a living wage that can cover the cost of a healthy diet.

But one thing’s for certain. Something needs to be done at a government level, to make sure that everyone in Britain has access to healthy food and a better quality of life from the get go.