SACN’s statement on processed foods and health welcomed

The Academy of Nutrition Sciences welcomes the thorough and comprehensive statement on processed foods and health from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), which concludes that the observed associations between higher consumption of (ultra-) processed foods and adverse health outcomes need to be treated with caution owing to limitations in the NOVA classification system, the potential for confounding, and the possibility that the observed adverse associations are covered by existing dietary recommendations. Studies are almost exclusively observational and confounding factors or key variables such as energy intake, body mass index, smoking and socioeconomic status may not be adequately accounted for.

 The SACN statement also highlights the lack of evidence about the mechanism(s) via which processed foods might adversely affect health and the need for good-quality randomised controlled trials that may help establish potential mechanisms, and establish whether they are independent of energy density or other dietary factors. This recommendation is aligned with the message of a recent blog post from the Academy, which also highlighted the limitations of the dietary methods used in the observational studies. Furthermore, as the NOVA system does not consider nutrient contribution of foods, it fails to accurately distinguish processed foods with limited nutritional attributes from processed foods with recognised nutritional properties, many of which contribute to the nutrient intakes of families living on tight budgets.