Processed Foods
Food processing alters the structure of foods, often with the goal of isolating ingredients from their original form or food matrix. This has been found to alter the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of such nutrients compared to their original form. Westernized diets tend to be high in ultra-processed (e.g., heavily processed) foods, and there is a growing body of research on the negative health consequences of diets high in such foods. Else Nutrition products are focused on maintaining as much of the natural food matrix as able in order to retain the beneficial properties of core “whole plant based” ingredients and does not use any harsh chemicals to process.
Learn more with our suggested reading list below:
Turgeon SL, Rioux LE.
Food matrix impact on macronutrients nutritional properties. Food Hydrocoll. 2011;25(8):1915-24.
Thomas G, Kalla AM, Rajunaik B, Kumar A.
Food matrix: A new tool to enhance nutritional quality of food. J Pharmacogn Phytochem. 2018;7(6):1011-4.
Aguilera JM.
The food matrix: implications in processing, nutrition and health. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2019;59(22):3612- 3629.
Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Lawrence M, Costa Louzada MD, Pereira Machado P.
Ultra-processed foods, diet quality, and health using the NOVA classification system. Rome: FAO. 2019.
Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Moubarac JC, et al.
The UN Decade of Nutrition, the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing. Public Health Nutr. 2018;21:5-17.
Popkin BM, Corvalan C, Hofman K, et al.
Towards unified and impactful policies to reduce ultra-processed food consumption and promote healthier eating. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2021;9:462-70.