The evolution of processed foods and opportunities for

The evolution of processed foods and opportunities for improving health Eric A. Decker Department of Food Science University of Massachusetts, Amherst

The Indypendent http: //www. indypendent. org/2009/07/23/bacon-as-weapon/ Amy Jussel http: //www. shapingyouth. org/ Are Processed Foods Evil? Many People Perceive Processed Foods as Unhealthy

Hydrogenation Fermentation Interesterification Hydrolysis Emulsification Extrusion Particle Size Reduction Plant Material

What is a Processed Food? Foods that have been altered from their natural state for safety reasons and for convenience.

What isn’t a Processed Foods Pick Wash Wax Controlled Atmosphere Storage Transport and Eat Vacuum Cool Transport Kitchen Process Dress and Eat Chop and Wash Bake Eat

Can Processed Foods Contribute to Health and Wellness? They must because the Food and Agricultural Industries Feed the World

Challenges for Producing Foods to Improve Health A health promoting food must be: Effective = Efficacy + Compliance Efficacy • Bioactive food component must be chemically and physically stable during the typical shelf-life of the food. • Bioactive must be bioavailable. • Food containing the bioactive compounds must impact health in humans.

Designing Foods to Improve Health Value Convenience High Efficacy at Preventing Diabetes Taste

Requirements for Foods to Improve Health Promotion = Efficacy + Compliance Foods that have the taste, value and convenience expected by consumers are easily and repeatedly incorporated into the diet.

Consumers Drivers to Food Choices Taste • Obvious fact for successful foods – If your food doesn’t taste good, people won’t buy it regardless of its health benefits. – If people don’t buy the food, there is no chance to improve health

Consumers Drivers to Food Choices Value • Food Cost are declining – 1900: 50% of income spent on food – 1980: 15% of income spent on food • Due to: – Increased food production by modern agriculture – Large scale processing of foods – Large retailers who could offer better food bargains and pressure food manufacturers to further reduce food costs

Consumers Drivers to Food Choices Convenience • Lifestyle changes such as dual working households and long commuting times have driven the need for easily prepared foods. – 1887: Half of a households labor hours were for preparing foods – 1970: Food preparation < 30 min/day – 2030: Food preparation projected at < 15 min/day

Consumers Drivers to Food Choices Convenience • Households are also spending less time shopping for foods (< 15 min/day) – Requires foods will long shelf-life so food shopping is not a daily event – Requires one stop shopping vs individual food vendors • Makes “buy local” difficult for many consumers to work into their lifestyles

What is the Food Processing Industry doing to Improve Health?

Cardiovascular Disease Diabetes Immune Response Disorders Osteoarthritus Cancer Sleep Disorders

What is the Most Important Organ that Impacts Obesity? Taste Behavior

Eating Behavior • Value is strongly related to $$/pound • Consumers have problems controlling the amount of food consumed meaning that good value can be at conflict with nutrition • Single portion/calorie control packaging

Fooling the Tongue Behavior and Biology • Foods with lower caloric density – Replace refined starches with non-caloric carbohydrates • Fiber/resistant starch – General Mills Fiber One line has increased consumption of dietary fiber by 16 billion grams/year

Fooling the Tongue Behavior and Biology • Sugar – Per Capita Consumption of Sugar in U. S. has Increased over 20 lb/year in past 20 years USDA, from Corn Refiners Association

Can Sugar Consumption be Reduced? • Hard to change consumer behavior – Americans love sweet foods – Could sugar consumption be reduced by slow, long-term reduction? • Sugar Replacement – Noncaloric sweeteners • Stevia • Sugar enhancers • Noncaloric sweetner blends – Efficacy of noncaloric sweeteners?

Mean ({+/-} SEM) changes in body weight, fat mass, and fat-free mass during an intervention in which overweight subjects consumed beverages containing either sucrose (n = 21) or artificial sweeteners (n = 20) daily for 10 wk Raben, A. et al. Am J Clin Nutr 2002; 76: 721 -729 Copyright © 2002 The American Society for Nutrition

What is the Most Important Organ that Impacts Obesity? Biology

Satiety and Eating Behavior • The Ileal Brake is a negative feedback mechanism where undigested foods in the small intestine slows down the digestive process and produces hormones that decrease appetite • Induced by proteins and lipids especially if their digestion is slow

Dietary Fibers and Satiety Digestibility BLG-Chitosan-Alginate Lipid FFA Released (%) 120 100 80 60 40 1º - B 2º - B-C 3º-B-C-A 20 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Digestion Time (min)

Consumption of Good Fruits and Vegetables • High correlation to improved health – cancer and heart disease • Why? ? – Calorie reduction • Low energy density – Replacement of other foods • Meats – Bioactive compounds • Flavonoids

Fruits and Vegetable 5 a Day Center of Disease Control

Increasing the Consumption of Fruits and Vegetable • Challenges – Availability – Convenience – Value – Flavor

Sodium • U. S. = >3400 mg sodium/day, well over recommended levels • 77% from processed and prepared foods • IOM recommends decreasing salt over time. – Not appropriate for all foods – Salt used in processed foods for function (e. g. meats) and preservation (e. g. cheese) as well as flavor (e. g. soups and sauces) – Some but not all food manufacturers are reducing salt levels • “Reasonable” regulation would make for a more even playing field

Reducing Sodium • Salt replacers – bitterness (e. g. potassium) • Synergistic salt combination – Sea salt • Salt delivery – Size mattters • Salt Enhancers – Increase salt flavor with non-sodium alternatives

What are the Future Challenges for Healthy Foods

History of Foods and Nutritional Deficiencies • Food fortification: – Niacin Pellagra in the United States, 1938 -1954. Miller, D. F. , 1978

Challenges for Producing Health Promoting Foods • The next generation of bioactive food components are not essential for health therefore increased consumption with have long term and not short term benefits so efficacy is difficult to show and is often dependent on genetics

Choosing the Next Generation of Health Promoting • Which foods/food components have been strong evidence that they improve health • Do foods/food components show efficacy when included in the diet • Do segments of the population have difficulty in obtaining efficacious levels of the nutrient from a normal diet • Can foods with good flavor, value and convenience be produced with the bioactive compound

Developing the Next Generation of Health Promoting • There are several food components that fit the criteria for food fortification: – Whole grains – Dietary Fibers – Flavonoids – Vitamin D – Omega-3 Fatty acids

Omega-3 Fatty Acids An example of a nutrient that could improve health 1. Omega-3 fatty acids decrease the incidence of sudden cardiac death, improve brain health and decrease inflammation

GISSI-Prevenzione >11, 300 post-MI patients were given usual care with or without 850 mg EPA+DHA (1 cap/d) for 3. 5 years Total mortality reduced by 28% (p=0. 027) Marchioli R et al. Circulation 2002; 105: 1897 -1903. Sudden death reduced by 47% (p=0. 0136)

Omega-3 Fatty Acids An example of a nutrient that could improve health 2. Bioavailability of omega-3 fatty acids in fortified foods is high

Omega-3 Fatty Acids An example of a nutrient that could improve health 3. Large segments of the population are under consuming omega-3 fatty acids – Avg. consumption for -3 fatty acids in U. S. men is: • Total • -Linolenic • EPA + DHA 1. 63 g/day 1. 59 g/day <0. 1 g/day – Clinical benefits beyond basic nutrition see benefits at concentrations of 0. 5 -1. 0 g DHA + EPA/day

Getting Your Long Chain n-3 Fatty Acids from the Diet • Nutritional recommendations for long chain n 3 fatty acids range from 0. 5 -1. 0 g/day. • To get 0. 5 g n-3/day or 3. 5 g n-3/week from seafood you would have to consume: 3. 0 servings/wk of farmed Atlantic salmon or 5. 8 servings/wk of albacore tuna/week or 17. 5 servings/wk of cod

Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Health 4. Omega-3 fatty acids fortified foods can be produced with great value, flavor and convenience

Omega-3 fortified Yogurt (350 mg DHA/serving) without Taste Differences Like extremely control (=7. 07) Like very much Like moderately algae enriched yogurt (=6. 96) Like slightly Neither like nor dislike Dislike slightly Dislike moderately Dislike very much Dislike extremely

What are the Future Challenges for Healthy Foods The Role of Public Policy and Government Regulations

Nutritional Recommendation and Public Policy and Processed Foods • Public policy can be a powerful tool in changing how foods are processed (e. g. trans fatty acids) – 76% of analyzed foods in Canada meet required trans fatty acid reduction – Estimated trans intake was reduced from 8. 4 g/day (mid 1990 s) to 3. 4 g/day (2008; 60% reduction) Ratnayake et al. , 2009

Nutritional Recommendation and Public Policy and Processed Foods • However, nutritional recommendations and food policy must take a careful look at their impact on the food supply – If it is recommended to reduce one food component what will take its place? • Low fat products and sugar • Fat sources

Nutritional Recommendation and Public Policy and Processed Foods • History of Fats in Processed Foods • Original fats used in cooking were animal derived o Decrease Dietary Cholesterol →Replace animal fats with tropical oils o Decrease Dietary Saturated Fatty Acids →Replace tropical oils with hydrogenated fats o Decrease trans Fatty Acids →Back to tropical oils? ?

Conclusions • Processed Foods are a critical component of developing food based approaches for preventative health care strategies • Processed foods that will improve health must taste good, be convenient and have good value or they will not be effective • Future improvement of our food supply will require incentives for the food industry to make the investments necessary to produce healthier foods