The average adult in the UK now gets more than 50 per cent of their calories from ultra-processed foods (UPFs). More shockingly still, for one in five children, the figure is 80 per cent.

A high consumption of such “foods” — or “industrially produced edible substances”, as Dr Chris van Tulleken refers to them in his new book, Ultra-Processed People — has been linked to the rise in obesity, disease and early death.

The problem is they can be devilishly hard to identify, with seductive packaging often marketing them as good for you. Many of us know that crisps, shop-bought biscuits and sugary breakfast cereals have been highly processed, but what about more innocuous, healthy-seeming products such as your morning bagel or peanut butter? “Often UPFs are cleverly marketed as healthy when they’re not,” says Dr Federica Amati, a medical scientist and public health nutritionist. “What everyone should remember is that the food industry is not healthcare. It’s these companies’ job to make money and UPFs are the easiest way to do that because they’re designed to be moreish but not make you full.”

UPFs, Amati explains, have been taken apart and reconstituted using chemical processes to look like food. “They are devoid of nutrients and fibre but high in sugar, fat and emulsifiers. They include a cocktail of chemicals that you would never find in your kitchen.”

Van Tulleken has a simple definition: “If it’s wrapped in plastic and has at least one ingredient you wouldn’t find in a home kitchen, it’s UPF. Label giveaways include emulsifiers, modified starches, thickeners, bulking agents, artificial sweeteners, colouring and flavouring/ flavour enhancers.”

If it seems overwhelming, don’t worry. Here, I delve into my shopping basket to identify which products are ultra processed and what to swap them for.

PEANUT BUTTER

Sun-Pat is hugely popular but it contains the stabiliser E471, a synthetic fat used to emulsify the product — you’ll notice, if you’ve ever bought it, that the peanut oil never separates. Food companies use emulsifiers because they’re cheap and make the product sell better, Amati says, but they’re not great for our guts. “Emulsifiers will do the same thing to your food as to your gut. They disrupt the natural division between water and fat that’s essential for gut barrier.”

My favourite brand, ManiLife, is not only extremely delicious but is also Smade up of only two ingredients: hi-oleic peanuts (99.1 per cent) and sea salt (0.9 per cent) — admittedly, it is possible to find brands that contain nothing but nuts.

UPF example Sun-Pat Peanut Butter Crunchy, £3.65 for 400g at Tesco

Swap it for ManiLife Deep Roast Crunchy Peanut Butter, £4 for 275g at Ocado

SLICED WHITE LOAF

Many of us know that a cheap, sliced white loaf isn’t the best for our health but how about a more rustic-looking farmhouse loaf from M&S advertising its vitamin D and fibre on the packet? Sadly, looking at the ingredients there are many that wouldn’t appear in a domestic kitchen, including two emulsifiers.

If you want proper bread, opt for Gail’s San Francisco-style sourdough, made with flour, yoghurt, milk and water — the combination of dairy makes it even better for you. “Our starter is made with yoghurt and milk to encourage the diversity in bacteria and flavour.

Tangy and sour and very delicious,” the company promises.

UPF example M&S Soft White Farmhouse Bread Loaf, £1.60 for 800g at Ocado

Swap it for A homemade white loaf or Gail’s San Francisco-style Sourdough, £4.15 for 650g at Waitrose

SEEDED BREAD

Hovis Seed Sensations sounds like it ought to be very good for you but lurking beneath the seeded crust are additives experts in nutrition warn against. “Normal food goes off,” Amati says. “Preservatives used in things like packaged bread are included to make it last on the shelf for weeks.”

Instead try Bertinet Bakery Seeded Sourdough, which is made with natural ingredients. It has a “tacky, chewy crumb, generously filled and hand rolled in seeds” which you can really get your teeth into.

One thing you’ll notice with UPFs is that they’re usually soft and can be eaten quickly without filling you up, causing you to consume more.

UPF example Hovis Seed Sensations Seven Seeds Original, £2.10 for 800g at Ocado

Swap it for Bertinet Bakery Seeded Sourdough, £1.65 for 550g at Waitrose

BAGELS

It didn’t occur to me that one of my favourite breakfast options, the bagel, might be a UPF. Luckily, not all of them are. The big brands tend to contain gelling agents, preservatives and emulsifiers but before you think about shaping, boiling and baking your own, there are premade ones that are better for you. Cohens Bakery Handmade Artisan Bagels are a good choice, containing only ingredients you’d find in a home kitchen.

UPF example Warburtons Plain Bagels, five bagels for £1.85 at Ocado

Swap it for Cohens Bakery Handmade Artisan Bagels, four bagels for £2.40 at Ocado

YOGHURT

You might believe a 0 per cent fat strawberry yoghurt with vitamin D and gut support advertised on the front of it would be good for you, but on closer examination Onken Biopot Fat Free Strawberry Yoghurt includes some surprising ingredients: modified corn starch, natural flavouring, thickeners (fruit pectin, guar gum).

Not quite what I had in mind. When choosing yoghurt, a general rule of thumb is to stick to a full-fat natural product where the ingredients don’t read like a science experiment.

UPF example Onken Biopot Fat Free Strawberry Yoghurt, £2 for 450g at Ocado

Swap it for No 1 Natural Strained Greek Yogurt, £1.40 for 200g at Waitrose

SAUSAGES

Surprisingly, not all sausages are off the menu. Avoid ones with ingredients such as dextrose (a starch-based sugar made from refined corn, rice or wheat that can be rapidly converted by the body into glucose), stabilisers and preservatives such as these ones from M&S. Instead opt for something like these from Pipers Farm, which contain only free range pork, free range pork fat, oats, water, salt, black pepper and hog skin casings.

UPF example M&S Select Farms British 6 Pork Sausages, £4.25 for 400g at Ocado

Swap it for Pipers Farm Natural Plain Pork Sausages, £6.25 for 6 at pipersfarm.com

CEREAL

Some cereal is obviously not great for us. No one’s eating Coco Pops, Honey Monster Puffs or Nestlé Golden Nuggets as a health food — but others are harder to spot. Take the gymworthy sounding Acti-Snack High Protein Peanut Butter Granola with “magnesium and iron which help to reduce tiredness and fatigue”. Lurking inside is soy protein isolate, the emulsifier soya lecithin and vanilla seasoning. Amati says that ultraprocessing destroys the food matrix of food by taking elements of foods and glueing them back together. “UPFs won’t resemble the original food. They will be low in fibre and micronutrients but companies will often add back in something that sounds healthy. We should put warning signs on UPFs so that people know they’re not good for your health. At the moment they’re very hard to distinguish.”

UPF example Acti-Snack High Protein Peanut Butter Granola, £3.50 for 350g at Ocado

Swap it for Nestlé Shredded Wheat Cereal, £2 for 16 per pack at Ocado

MAYONNAISE As delicious as it is, mayo contains a lot of additives, even this vegan one by Hellmann’s, which you might expect to be especially good for you. It contains modified maize starch, sugar and natural flavouring — not ingredients you’d include in a homemade version.

I recognise all the ingredients in this alternative which, tellingly, needs using within a month of being opened.

UPF example Hellmann’s Vegan Mayonnaise, £2.60 for 270g at Ocado

Swap it for Dr Will’s Classic Mayonnaise, £3 for 240g at Ocado

HOT SAUCE

Personally I am very upset to discover one of my favourite brands of hot sauce, Cholula, contains the stabiliser xanthan gum. Amati says you must pick your battles and think about the reasons you’re eating the foods you are. If they give you pleasure, that’s reason enough, she says, although with UPFs they should only be consumed occasionally. Luckily, and to my surprise, another solid hot sauce brand, Frank’s, only contains the recognisable aged cayenne red peppers (35 per cent), distilled vinegar, water, salt and garlic powder.

UPF example Cholula Hot Sauce Original, £2.30 for 150ml at Ocado

Swap it for: Frank’s Redhot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce, £1.46 for 148ml

BURGERS

These Aberdeen Angus burgers from M&S sound like a sensible choice but they actually contain dextrose and the preservative sodium metabisulfite. Opt instead for these by Pipers Farm which comprise grass-fed beef mince, onion, salt and black pepper.

UPF example M&S 4 Aberdeen Angus Burgers, £5.25 for 454g at Ocado

Swap it for Grass Fed Beef Steak Burgers, Pipers Farm, £7 for four at pipersfarm.com

CURRY PASTE

It’s a helpful ingredient, no doubt, but not all curry paste is made equal.

Avoid ones with preservatives and instead opt for this delicious one, which is made with onion, tomato paste (tomato, salt), garlic rapeseed oil, red chilli, lime juice, curry leaf (2 per cent), cumin (2 per cent), sea salt, coriander, black pepper and cardamom.

UPF example Tesco Finest Vindaloo Curry Paste, £2.65 for 180g at Tesco

Swap it for Mamak Curry Leaf & Roasted Cumin, £6.90 for 180g at souschef.co.uk

JAM

If you’re trying to cut out UPFs you can still enjoy jam, just not any with preservatives, gelling agents or e-numbers. You could make your own (super easy) or try this frankly delicious-sounding fresh fig jam made with figs, sugar and fresh lemon juice. Breakfast transformed.

UPF example M&S Fair Trade Seedless Raspberry Conserve, £2.40 for 340g at Ocado

Swap it for Mymouné Fresh Fig Jam, £5.99 for 340g at souschef.co.uk, or Daylesford Organic Strawberry Jam, £3.30 for 227g at Ocado

BEANS

Beans are good for you, we know that, but not so much when covered in a sweet sauce containing modified cornflour. Check the ingredients and pick something that’s just beans, water and salt — you can make your own, more delicious, tomato sauce.

UPF example Heinz Baked Beanz, £1.40 for 415g at Ocado

Swap it for Bold Bean Co Queen Butter Beans, £4 for 700g at Waitrose

NUTS

Avoid dry roasted varieties with additives like gums and instead choose the salted ones. Better still is to buy raw, unsalted mixed nuts (a variety is good for your gut microbiome), season them with a spice mix of your choice and a little olive oil, and roast them in the oven at home — hot, crunchy, savoury and great as a snack or in salads for texture.

UPF example M&S Dry Roasted Peanuts, £1.40 for 200g at Ocado

Swap it for M&S Roasted & Salted Peanuts, £1.40 for 200g at Ocado

CRUMPETS

Crumpets are a great joy in life and shouldn’t be limited. However, the popular Warburtons ones contain three e-numbers and a preservative.

I’ve searched long and hard for crumpets made from normal ingredients and stumbled across the Crumpetorium, producing handmade fermented crumpets from wheat flour, water, sugar, yeast, salt, bicarbonate of soda and sunflower oil. As with a lot of these swaps, the downside is they are more expensive. Amati says it’s nearly impossible to cut out UPFs entirely in the food environment we’re in but even cutting down a little will have health benefits.

UPF example Warburtons Crumpets, 90p for 6 at Sainsbury’s

Swap it for Original Crumpets, Crumpetorium, £6.05 for 6 at crumpetorium.com

CHOCOLATE

A lot of chocolate, including the ludicrously addictive Tony’s Chocolonely, is ultra-processed, which is OK for a treat but not to be eaten all the time due to the various stabilisers, emulsifiers and sugar. Dark chocolate is usually a safe bet but there are brands out there doing milk choc that’s not full of nasty stuff.

UPF example Tony’s Chocolonely Milk Caramel Biscuit, £3 for 180g at Ocado

Swap it for Pump Street Sourdough & Sea Salt 66 per cent, £6.75 for 75g at pumpstreetchocolate.com

PASTA SAUCE

It’s always tastier if you make your own and it can be made very cheaply with tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, tomato puree, salt and water.

However, should you want a jarred version, there are some without additives.

UPF example Dolmio BolognesePasta Sauce, £2.75 for 750g at Sainsbury’s

Swap it for Mr Organic No Added Sugar Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce, £2.25 for 350g, Ocado, or Fattoria La Vialla Sugo Pomarola, £22.50 for box of 6 jars of 280g at lavialla.com

SOUP

Tinned soup can contain modified maize starch, sugar and lots of salt.

This nourishing broth from Daylesford is a much better choice and made in a zero-waste kitchen.

UPF example Baxters Vegetarian Country Garden Soup, £1.70 for 400g at Ocado

Swap it for Daylesford Organic Chicken Bone Broth with Ginger & Greens, £5.95 for 500ml at Ocado

CRISPS

You might assume that all crisps are highly processed but this is not the case. “Proper potato crisps cooked in olive oil aren’t a UPF, they’re a great snack,” Amati says.

Make sure to check the packaging as some that look like a good choice may not be.

UPF example Tyrrells Black Truffle & Sea Salt Sharing Crisps, £1.50 for 275g at Ocado

Swap it for Torres Olive Oil Crisps, £4.99 for 150g at planetorganic.com

BISCUITS

Most shop-bought biscuits contain emulsifiers including, devastatingly, my favourite, the buttery, sweet Le Petit Beurre Salted Butter Biscuits.

To avoid additives, it’s much better to make your own.

UPF version Le Petit Beurre Salted Butter Biscuits, £1.50 for 167g, Ocado

Swap it for Simon’s Shortbread, £6.50 for 90g, saltandsugarartchocolate.com

PESTO

Pesto is perfect for a quick and easy dinner but, depending on the brand you buy, it could be a UPF. This Barilla one has maize fibre, whey powder and flavourings. I think making your own is a better option than buying, especially since most shop-bought ones use cashews instead of the traditional pine nuts. However, a nice shop-bought option is the pesto variation Natoora Wild Rocket & Almond Pesto.

UPF example Barilla Pesto Genovese Pasta Sauce, £2.85 for 190g at Ocado

Swap it for Homemade (always better, easy and quick) or Natoora Wild Rocket & Almond Pesto, £4.95 for 125g at Ocado

MILK

A lot of milk alternatives are highly processed and contain gums and stabilisers. If you’re looking to avoid UPFs, check the ingredients of your regular brand.

UPF example Alpro Oat Long Life Drink, £1.70 for 1l at Ocado

Swap it for Not everyone drinks fresh cow’s milk but, if you do, rest assured it’s not a UPF

* ie containing any additive you wouldn’t find in a domestic kitchen he

Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken is published by Cornerstone Press at £22