Grupos NOVA para el procesamiento de los alimentos
Una clasificación en 4 grupos para resaltar el grado de procesamiento de los alimentos
En el informe "The UN Decade of Nutrition, the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing" ( pdf , pdf ), Carlos Augusto Monteiro, Geoffrey Cannon, Jean-Claude Moubarac, Renata Bertazzi Levy, María Laura C. Louzada y Patrícia Constante Jaime abogan por la adopción de un sistema de calificaciones de 1 a 4 para permitir comparar simplemente el grado de procesamiento de productos.
Una nueva investigación del Inserm (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale), el Inra (Institut national de la recherche agronomique) y la Université Paris XIII (Centre de recherche épidémiologie et statistique Sorbonne Paris Cité, équipe EREN) sugiere que existe una correlación entre el consumo de comida ultra procesada y el incremento del riesgo de desarrollar un cáncer.
Consumo de alimentos ultraprocesados y riesgo de cáncer: resultados de la cohorte prospectivade NutriNet-SantéComunicado de prensa en francés: Consumo de alimentos ultra transformados y riesgo de cáncer
Algunos países utilizan los grupos NOVA para sus pautas u objetivos dietéticos, por ejemplo:
- Las pautas dietéticas de Brasil recomiendan limitar el consumo de alimentos procesados y evitar los alimentos ultraprocesados.
- La política de objetivos nutricionales de la salud pública francesa para 2018-2022 tiene como objetivo reducir el consumo de alimentos ultraprocesados del grupo 4 en un 20%.
- Grupo 1 - Alimentos no procesados o mínimamente procesados
- Grupo 2 - Ingredientes culinarios procesados
- Grupo 3 - Alimentos procesados
- Grupo 4 - Alimentos y bebidas ultraprocesados
Grupo 1. Alimentos no procesados o mínimamente procesados
Unprocessed (or natural) foods are edible parts of plants (seeds, fruits, leaves, stems, roots) or of animals (muscle, offal, eggs, milk), and also fungi, algae and water, after separation from nature.
Minimally processed foods are natural foods altered by processes that include removal of inedible or unwanted parts, and drying, crushing, grinding, fractioning, filtering, roasting, boiling, non-alcoholic fermentation, pasteurization, refrigeration, chilling, freezing, placing in containers and vacuum-packaging. These processes are designed to preserve natural foods, to make them suitable for storage, or to make them safe or edible or more pleasant to consume. Many unprocessed or minimally processed foods are prepared and cooked at home or in restaurant kitchens in combination with processed culinary ingredients as dishes or meals.
Grupo 2. Ingredientes culinarios procesados
Processed culinary ingredients, such as oils, butter, sugar and salt, are substances derived from Group 1 foods or from nature by processes that include pressing, refining, grinding, milling and drying. The purpose of such processes is to make durable products that are suitable for use in home and restaurant kitchens to prepare, season and cook Group 1 foods and to make with them varied and enjoyable hand-made dishes and meals, such as stews, soups and broths, salads, breads, preserves, drinks and desserts. They are not meant to be consumed by themselves, and are normally used in combination with Group 1 foods to make freshly prepared drinks, dishes and meals.
Grupo 3. Alimentos procesados
Processed foods, such as bottled vegetables, canned fish, fruits in syrup, cheeses and freshly made breads, are made essentially by adding salt, oil, sugar or other substances from Group 2 to Group 1 foods.
Processes include various preservation or cooking methods, and, in the case of breads and cheese, non-alcoholic fermentation. Most processed foods have two or three ingredients, and are recognizable as modified versions of Group 1 foods. They are edible by themselves or, more usually, in combination with other foods. The purpose of processing here is to increase the durability of Group 1 foods, or to modify or enhance their sensory qualities.
Grupo 4. Alimentos ultraprocesados
Ultra-processed foods, such as soft drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, reconstituted meat products and pre-prepared frozen dishes, are not modified foods but formulations made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods and additives, with little if any intact Group 1 food.
Ingredients of these formulations usually include those also used in processed foods, such as sugars, oils, fats or salt. But ultra-processed products also include other sources of energy and nutrients not normally used in culinary preparations. Some of these are directly extracted from foods, such as casein, lactose, whey and gluten.
Many are derived from further processing of food constituents, such as hydrogenated or interesterified oils, hydrolysed proteins, soya protein isolate, maltodextrin, invert sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.
Additives in ultra-processed foods include some also used in processed foods, such as preservatives, antioxidants and stabilizers. Classes of additives found only in ultra-processed products include those used to imitate or enhance the sensory qualities of foods or to disguise unpalatable aspects of the final product. These additives include dyes and other colours, colour stabilizers; flavours, flavour enhancers, non-sugar sweeteners; and processing aids such as carbonating, firming, bulking and anti-bulking, de-foaming, anti-caking and glazing agents, emulsifiers, sequestrants and humectants.
A multitude of sequences of processes is used to combine the usually many ingredients and to create the final product (hence 'ultra-processed'). The processes include several with no domestic equivalents, such as hydrogenation and hydrolysation, extrusion and moulding, and pre-processing for frying.
The overall purpose of ultra-processing is to create branded, convenient (durable, ready to consume), attractive (hyper-palatable) and highly profitable (low-cost ingredients) food products designed to displace all other food groups. Ultra-processed food products are usually packaged attractively and marketed intensively.
¡Obtén el grupo NOVA con Open Food Facts!
Instala la aplicación móvil de Open Food Facts
Para escanear productos alimenticios, obtener el grupo NOVA de ultra-procesados, el grado nutricional Nutri-Score, alérgenos y para averiguar los aditivos, ¡instala gratis Open Food Facts!
También podrá agregar fácilmente nuevos productos a Open Food Facts y ayudar a contribuir al bien común para mejorar la alimentación y la salud de todos. ¡Gracias!
La puntuación NOVA en Open Food Facts
La fórmula para calcular la puntuación Nova se publicó en la NOVA. The star shines bright", artículo publicado en World Nutrition, volumen 7, número 1-3, enero-marzo de 2016
Por favor, tenga en cuenta que este trabajo es todavía experimental, ya que la taxonomía multilingüe de los ingredientes sigue siendo un trabajo en curso en Open Food Facts.
Fórmula para determinar el grupo NOVA
Empezamos asignando el Grupo 1
Primero intentamos identificar los ingredientes culinarios procesados de Grupo 2
Los ingredientes y categorías asociadas con el Grupo 3 no serán aplicadas a los alimentos identificados como del grupo 2
Ingredientes y categorías que solo se encuentran en el Grupo 4
- colorantes
- estabilizadores de color
- potenciadores del sabor
- edulcorantes
- agentes de carbonatación
- agente reafirmante
- agente de abultamiento
- agente de antiabultamiento
- agente antiespumantes
- agente antiaglomerante
- agente de recubrimiento
- emulsionantes
- secuestrantes
- humectantes
- condimento
- caseína
- lactosa
- suero
- aceite hidrogenado
- proteínas hidrolizadas
- maltodextrinas
- azúcar invertido
- sirope de maíz con alta fructosa
- refrescos
- helados
- chocolates
- golosinas
- comidas
- aperitivos azucarados
- aperitivos salados
- leches infantiles
- salchichas
Puede ayudarnos a determinar el grupo NOVA para más productos completando los ingredientes y las categorías de productos.