Many of us woof down an occasional hot dog, but a health care professional is urging Iowans not to make a steady diet of what are known as ultra-processed foods.
Cindy Lueck, a registered dietician at Gundersen Health System, says there are whole aisles of ultra-processed foods in many supermarkets. Besides hot dogs, the list includes soft drinks, deli meats, packaged cookies, other packaged desserts and more.
Cindy Leuck (Gundersen photo)
Lueck says, “Ultra-processed foods tend to be devoid in nutrition that’s beneficial for us, while being high in ingredients and nutrients that we don’t necessarily need or don’t need more of in our diets.”
She wouldn’t go so far as to say these foods are dangerous, but Lueck says they’re miles from being close to beneficial.
“Ultra-processed foods tend to be high in sodium, fats — that aren’t healthy fats, and added sugar and artificial sweeteners,” she says.
Having a packaged cookie or a soft drink now and then won’t likely do much harm, but Lueck says if you make a routine of eating this type of food, the bad habit will eventually catch up to you.
“Ultra processed foods, if our diets contain too much of them, have been linked to a variety of health conditions,” Leuck says, “from some types of cancers, heart disease, obesity, type two diabetes, and premature death.”
For most of us, it’s tough to completely avoid ultra-processed foods, but she says it can become a problem is someone makes a practice of eating that type of food all the time.
Gundersen Health System has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.