Food additives and ultra-processed foods are not the same thing, but they often overlap.
In the UK, additives are regulated and approved before use, while concern about ultra-processed foods focuses more on the overall pattern of heavily industrially processed products and their links with diet quality and health, sometimes containing these additives.
Why additives are used
Additives serve specific purposes in food production: they can preserve freshness, improve texture, maintain colour, replace lost nutrients, or make products safer and more consistent.
UK guidance says additives must be approved, used only in permitted foods, and kept within specified limits, with safety assessments and labelling rules in place.
For example, preservatives can help stop spoilage, which reduces food waste and can improve shelf life for households and retailers.
Safety and regulation
The UK’s Food Standards Agency says it rigorously assesses the safety of food additives and monitors new evidence from scientific committees and international bodies.
Food additives are also required to be declared on labels, which helps consumers identify them and make informed choices.
Some of these additives are naturally occuring, or can be artificial.
Some additives are expressed as ‘E-numbers’, or a long chemical name. ‘Citric acid’ for example, otherwise known as ‘E330’ is used as a preservative in food.
This regulatory framework is important because it means an additive’s approval is based on safety at permitted levels, not on the idea that all additives are inherently harmful.
Health benefits
Ultra-processed foods can offer practical benefits, especially for busy households.
They are often inexpensive, widely available, convenient, and long-lasting, which can matter for families managing time, budget, or food access.
Some processed and ultra-processed products are also fortified, portion-controlled, or designed to be safe and stable, which can help meet nutritional needs in certain settings.
Current health concerns
The main concern is not that every additive is dangerous, but that diets high in ultra-processed foods are consistently associated with poorer health outcomes.
UK evidence reviews report links between higher ultra-processed food consumption and obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mental health conditions, while stressing that the evidence base still has important limitations.
A key issue is that ultra-processed foods can be high in salt, sugar, and saturated fat, and they may encourage overeating because they are highly palatable and easy to consume in large amounts.
The UK’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition has also said the NOVA classification may be useful for the UK, but it has practical limitations and does not yet fully explain which components of ultra-processed foods drive risk.
The ‘NOVA system’, is a system of categorising the degree of processing in foods, however, its critique is it cannot neatly resolve the nuances when it comes to the various degrees of processing foods, the health benefits and risks.
Some foods are processed, and can be thought of as healthy in some quarters, such as shop bought wholegrain bread, or low fat yogurts. This is an example of the paradox which the NOVA system does not adequately address.
Additives versus processing
A balanced view is that additives are one part of the story, not the whole story.
The evidence reviewed in the UK suggests that the health signal around ultra-processed foods may relate to the overall food matrix, nutritional profile, processing methods, and eating patterns, rather than to additives alone.
That matters because some concerns about “chemicals” or “E numbers” can obscure the fact that many additives are regulated for safety, while the bigger public-health issue may be the overconsumption of foods that are energy-dense, low in fibre, and less filling.
A sensible takeaway
For most people, the practical advice is to focus on the overall diet: more vegetables, fruit, beans, whole grains, and minimally processed foods, while treating ultra-processed foods as occasional conveniences rather than everyday staples.
The UK evidence does not support a blanket claim that all additives are unsafe, but it does support concern that a diet dominated by ultra-processed foods may be worse for long-term health.
Elsewhere, there are some concerns about additives and their impact on the gut microbiome drawn from animal studies, and researchers are looking at possible effects in humans.
Want to learn more about ultra-processed foods? Have a read of my ‘Ultra-processed foods or UPFs‘ blog article.
Disclaimer:
No responsibility can be accepted for this article which does not constitute medical advice, and is for educational purposes only.
REFERENCES:
British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) (2024): Position statement on UPF. Available at: https://www.nutrition.org.uk/news/position-statement-on-the-concept-of-ultra-processed-foods-upf/ (Accessed: 1st April 2026).
Dicken, S.J., Jassil, F.C., Brown, A. et al. (2025): ‘Ultraprocessed or minimally processed diets following healthy dietary guidelines on weight and cardiometabolic health: a randomized, crossover trial’. Nature Medicine 31, 3297–3308 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03842-0 Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03842-0#citeas (Accessed: 1st April 2026).
Food Standards Agency (FSA) 2025: Ultra-processed foods. What consumers need to know about ultra-processed foods. Available at: https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/ultra-processed-foods (Accessed: 1st April 2026).
Gramza-Michałowska A. (2020): ‘The Effects of Ultra-Processed Food Consumption-Is There Any Action Needed?’. Nutrients. Aug 24;12(9):2556. doi: 10.3390/nu12092556. PMID: 32846915; PMCID: PMC7551378. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7551378/ (Accessed 1st April 2026).
Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) (2025): Processed foods and health: SACN’s rapid evidence update summary. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/processed-foods-and-health-sacns-rapid-evidence-update/processed-foods-and-health-sacns-rapid-evidence-update-summary (Accessed: 1st April 2026).
Whelan, K., Bancil, A.S., Lindsay, J.O. et al. (2024) Ultra-processed foods and food additives in gut health and disease. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 21, 406–427. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-024-00893-5 Available at: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/95165/Ultra-processed%20foods%20and%20food%20additives%20in%20gut%20health%20and%20disease,%20accepted%202024.pdf?sequence=10 (Accessed 1st April 2026) .
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