| It seems like everyone is trying to eat healthier. Yet food has become increasingly complex, with sweeteners, additives and preservatives in almost every product on store shelves. But most people lack the chemistry degree to discern the difference between carboxymethylcellulose and ascorbic acid. (The former is a common thickener used in ice cream, ketchup and chewing gum, and the latter is best known as vitamin C.) Researchers at Mass General Brigham in Boston, Massachusetts, decided to help. Using a machine-learning algorithm, the group ranked over 50,000 products available at leading US grocers by a processing score that looks at additives and the number of ingredients. The higher the score, the more ultra-processed it is. Published as a public, searchable database called TrueFood, the project aims to bring transparency to world of ultra-processed foods. According to the Nova classification system, there are four categories of foods: - Unprocessed or minimally processed foods in their natural state, like apples, celery or raw, unsalted nuts.
- Processed culinary ingredients, like oils and sugar.
- Processed foods that have been cooked or treated to extend shelf life, like baked chicken, bread and cheese.
- Ultra-processed foods created through formations that often containing industrially-made ingredients, like artificial dyes, sweeteners or chemical emulsifiers. Think instant soups, hot dogs and frozen pizza.
Ultra-processed foods have been linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer and have become public enemy number one in the latest push of what not to eat. Giulia Menichetti, one of the creators of TrueFood and a faculty member at the Harvard Medical School, said that nutrition studies are the "Cinderella" of scientific research — often overlooked and underfunded. "We need to understand from a molecular perspective what our food is doing to us," she said in an interview. If you search for "chips," you'll find a list of brands with Siete No-Salt Tortillas as one of the least processed and Kettle Jalapeño as one of the most. But the tool doesn't compare foods in different groups, like the difference between chips and yogurt. And TrueFood isn't updated every day. Companies are taking baby steps to de-process their bestsellers. PepsiCo just rolled out a more-natural alternative to Ruffles Flamin' Hot potato chips, Simply Ruffles Hot & Spicy, that uses tomato powder and red chile pepper for coloring instead of Red No. 40 and Yellow No. 6. Still, changing our broad food supply will take time, so in the interim, Zoe Keller, a Massachusetts-based holistic health and nutrition coach, has a few suggestions for how to avoid getting bogged down in ingredients lists. Start slow, she said, and take an inventory of your diet and see where you can make manageable changes. Keller says if you snack on Ritz Crackers every day, try less-processed brands like Simple Mills or Mary's Gone. While overhauling your diet may seem daunting, most people buy the same thing every week. Once you've figured out a few substitutes, it's easy to keep them in the weekly circuit and add more over time. Follow the guidance of author Michael Pollan: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." And Keller suggests focusing on cooking your meals with simple ingredients, even if you start with one recipe a week. Finally, remember how your grandparents ate. Prioritize foods in their whole form, like fruits or fresh proteins, and avoid ingredients you'd struggle to pronounce. — Cam Baker | 
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