Ultra-processed foods often contain high levels of saturated fat, salt and sugar

when we eat them, we leave less room in our diets for more nutritious foods.

It’s also been suggested that the additives in these foods could be responsible for negative health effects.

The actual processing of the food could also make a difference to how our bodies respond to it.

when foods such as nuts are eaten whole the body absorbs less of the fat than when the nut is ground down and the oils are released.

Another new theory is that diets higher in ultra-processed foods could also affect our gut health

However, given the high salt, sugar, and saturated fat content of most of these foods, cutting down does seem sensible