Ultra‑Processed Food vs Healthy Food: A Parent’s Guide
Ultra-processed food can harm children — how to spot it and swap it for healthy meals
Do you remember your childhood meals? Fresh produce, home cooking, hardly a packet in sight?
In just 20 years, everything has changed.
Now, ultra-processed foods packed with sugar, salt, unhealthy fats and additives dominate shops, streets and screens. Fresh food costs more and is harder to find.
If you feel overwhelmed or unsure about what’s healthy for your children, you’re not alone. Parents everywhere are facing the same struggle, and it’s not because you’re failing.
It’s because our children are growing up surrounded by food that’s easy to grab but harmful to their health — and marketing often makes those products look like the best or easiest choice.
That’s why UNICEF nutrition experts have created this guide: to help you spot ultra-processed foods, see through marketing tricks, and choose healthier options for your family.
What is ultra-processed food?
Ultra-processed foods are factory-made products created from cheap ingredients like sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, and additives you’d never use in your own kitchen. Things like modified starches, hydrogenated fats, textured vegetable protein and even mechanically separated meat (a paste made by forcing leftover meat and bones through a machine). They don’t have much (or any) natural food in them.
Ultra-processed foods are all around us. Things like:
Fast food
Packaged salty/savoury snacks
Hot dogs
Packaged cookies and cakes
Frozen ready-made meals
Sugary cereals
Sugary drinks
Processed meats
For many families, the most common ones are instant noodles, chips, candy, soda, and chocolate.
These foods are designed to taste great, last a long time on shelves, and make companies money — not to keep us healthy. That’s why they’re so heavily advertised, especially to children and families.
How does ultra-processed food harm children’s health?
Ultra-processed foods give children lots of calories from sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, but almost none of the real nourishment their bodies and brains need.
As these foods have flooded our lives, childhood obesity has doubled. Today, one in four children in East Asia and the Pacific is living with overweight or obesity. These conditions raise the risk of diabetes, heart disease and even cancer later in life.
They also make children more likely to face bullying, low self-esteem and mental health challenges.
Is ultra-processed food the same as junk food?
Not quite — but they often overlap.
“Junk food” is a casual term used for foods that are tasty but low in nutrition, like chips, candy, soda, or fast food.
“Ultra-processed food” (UPF) is a more technical term that’s more about how food is made. These foods are made in factories and include artificial ingredients.
Most junk foods are ultra processed, but not every ultra-processed food is junk food.
Take packaged bread, flavoured yoghurt and breakfast cereals. They wouldn’t be called “junk food” (because they include some nutrients like fibre, protein and added micronutrients). But they are ultra-processed foods because they’ve had chemically modified ingredients added to them too.
How it’s made matters
The same food can be minimally processed or ultra-processed, depending on how it’s made.
Let’s take bread:
- A supermarket loaf might have 20–40 ingredients, including additives and preservatives, making it ultra-processed.
- A bakery or homemade loaf (just flour, water and salt) is simple, nutritious and not ultra-processed.
A simple rule: If the ingredient list is long and full of things you don’t recognise and would never use at home, it’s probably ultra-processed.
How to choose healthier food for children
In today’s world, feeding children a nutritious diet isn't easy. Food costs have risen, marketing makes children pester for junk, labels are confusing, and parents are busier than ever.
But the good news is: You don’t have to be perfect. Small steady steps can make a big difference.
Here’s what our experts recommend to get started:
- Say no to sugary drinks entirely. Even as treats. Children can quickly become addicted to sugar.
- Swap packaged snacks like chips and biscuits for fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Avoid fried food, like fries and deep-fried chicken, often sold in fast food restaurants and by street vendors.
- Try to cook at home as much as you can.
- Choose locally produced, seasonal, and traditional foods — they’re usually the least processed.
- Don’t trust food advertising or claims on the front of packets. They can be misleading and make false claims.
Learn how to understand food labels, to help you spot healthier options quickly when shopping. (Food labels are confusing, but if you’re trying to spot an ultra-processed food just look for a long ingredient list!)
If you start practicing these steps regularly, they can soon become second nature.
Left to right: Thuy from Vietnam shops for fresh fruit, vegetables and spices, and two-year-old Kaikai from China enjoys a home-cooked meal full of greens.
>> More tips from our experts on choosing the right first foods for young children
How to make healthy swaps for ultra-processed foods in children’s diets
These swaps can reduce sugar, salt, and additives in your children’s everyday food:
| Ultra-processed food | Healthier option | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| Instant noodles | Freshly made noodles, rice, or rice noodles | Less salt and sugar; no artificial preservatives like MSG |
| Deep fried chicken (fast food or street vendors) | Home-cooked chicken (steamed, grilled, or stir-fried with less oil) | Lower in fat and salt; no additives or batter soaking up oil. |
| Packaged chips or crisps | Fresh fruit, boiled corn, or dried fruit with no added sugar (e.g. banana chips) | More nutrients and fibre; less salt, fat, and sugar. |
| Chocolate | Plain, unsalted nuts or seeds | Provides fibre, minerals, protein and healthy fats; more filling with less free sugars. |
| Sugary breakfast cereal | Porridge, congee, or oats (without added sugar); brown rice with chilli paste, boiled vegetables, and a boiled egg. Clear soup with tofu and minced pork or chicken and steamed rice. | Traditional options with less sugar and more fibre keep children fuller for longer and give them steady energy. |
| Soda (and sugary drinks) | Water, diluted fruit juice, or fruit-infused water (all without added sugar) | Cuts out sugar, caffeine, and additives; keeps children hydrated. |
| Bubble tea | Water, fresh fruit smoothies, diluted fruit juice, or fruit-infused water (all without added sugar) | Avoids excess sugar and caffeine; healthier flavours children still enjoy. We don’t recommend children have bubble tea at all, because it contains caffeine. But if adults want to drink bubble tea you can get healthier versions without added sugar. |
| Candy | Fresh fruit | Natural sweetness with vitamins and fibre; no artificial colours, preservatives, or added sugar. |
UNICEF’s Top Tips: Spotting ultra-processed food in shops
1. Choose the option with the fewest ingredients
When comparing foods, always go for the one with the simplest ingredient list.
The more items you see, especially long, chemical-sounding names, the more likely it’s ultra-processed.
Fewer, familiar ingredients usually mean a healthier choice.
2. Watch out for hidden sugar
Sugar doesn’t always appear as just “sugar” on labels. It can hide under different names.
These are all ingredients used to add sweetness to food:
Sucrose (table sugar)
Fructose (fruit sugar)
Glucose / Dextrose
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
Agave syrup
Maple syrup
Honey
Coconut sugar
Date sugar
Molasses
Brown sugar
Invert sugar
Fruit juice concentrates
Maltodextrin
Polydextrose
Dextrin
Isomalt
Sorbitol (also a sugar alcohol)
Xylitol
Erythritol
Lactitol
Remember: ingredients are listed by weight, so if sugar (by any name) shows up near the top, it means there’s a lot of it in the product.
3. Simple packaging usually means simpler food
Ultra-processed foods almost always come in bright, flashy packages with cartoon characters, bold colours and fun shapes (often placed right at children’s eye level to catch their attention).
Fresh foods with no packaging, or simple packaging without big marketing claims, are usually the better choice.
4. Don’t trust health claims on the front of the package
Food companies often use words like “healthy,” “contains fruit,” “all natural,” or “no added sugar” to make their products seem better than they really are.
But shockingly, recent UNICEF research in Southeast Asia found that nearly 90% of health claims on packaged foods for young children were misleading or deceptive.
These claims can confuse parents who are trying to make the best choices for their families. For example, “zero sugar” bubble tea may sound safe, but it usually just means less sugar, not none at all.
Ads may even suggest that a product is recommended by doctors or experts, without saying who these experts are or if they work for the company.
The truth is, these marketing tricks often hide the fact that products are highly processed and not what children really need.
Instead of trusting the front of the pack, always turn it over and read the ingredients to decide for yourself.
These mock adverts show how ultra-processed food marketing uses health claims and unnamed ‘experts’, to make products look healthier for children than they are.
How can I get my child to eat healthy food when they always want snacks and sugar?
It’s normal for children to want sweet snacks, they’re made and marketed to be tempting. But there are things you can do to help guide your child towards healthier habits:
- Start early: Set healthy habits ideally before your child starts school.
- Be the example: Children copy what the family eats.
- Make healthy eating fun: Try colourful fruits, playful meals, or cooking together.
- Talk about adverts: Teach older children (age 8 years+) how marketing tricks them.
- Keep offering healthy food: The more children see and taste it, the more they’ll enjoy it.
Offer choice: Let children help plan meals or pick between healthy options to build excitement and ownership.
Keep meals stress-free: Offer small tastes of new foods alongside favourites, without pressure.
Why is it so hard to feed children healthy food now — and what can parents do?
If you find it tough to feed your children healthy food, the most important thing to remember is this: it’s not your fault.
Parents everywhere are doing their best, but the truth is the system is stacked against families. For decades, food companies have been allowed to put profit before children’s health. Ultra-processed foods have flooded the market, becoming the cheapest, most convenient, and most heavily marketed option.
The result? Junk food companies make billions, while children’s health pays the price.
But here’s the good news: parents are not powerless. Together, we can call for governments to make changes that make it easier for families to thrive. Some of the solutions are clear:
Stop junk food marketing to children: Ban unhealthy food ads on TV, online, and near schools.
Put clear labels on food: Implement clear, front-of-pack labels for products loaded with sugar, salt, or unhealthy fats — so parents can make informed choices quickly.
Support healthy schools: Provide affordable, nutritious meals and snacks and safe drinking water in every school.
Make healthy food affordable: Introduce taxes on sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods, while supporting tasty, nourishing alternatives at fair prices.
The system may be broken, but change is possible. Parents’ voices are powerful.
By speaking up and putting pressure on governments to act, we can build a food environment that puts children at the centre, instead of harming them.
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This guide was developed with UNICEF nutrition expert Alison Feeley.
