Ultra-processed foods and their risk to food culture and to health

Abstract

Currently, dietary patterns dominated by ultra-processed foods have gradually replaced traditional diets, causing negative impacts on health, food and nutritional security and on the environment. The transformation in the diets can be more or less resistant according to how preserved the food culture is and how food environments promote healthy dietary choices and disincentive unhealthy behaviors. Overcoming these challenges depends on the priority given to healthy diets in sectoral and intersectoral policies to strengthen and preserve the local food culture and promote health, sustainability, resilience and inclusiveness through the food systems.