Friday Fuel August 29

Picking Up Where We Left Off

Last week, we introduced ultra-processed foods (UPFs)—what they are, how common they’ve become, and why parents should pay attention.

This week, we’re going deeper. Not with opinions or anecdotes—just the science. What does the research say about how UPFs affect athletes and students? And is there ever a right time to use them?

📌 This week:

• 🔄 Quick Recap: Ultraprocessed Athletes (Part 1)
  

• ⚡ Deep Dive: The Effects of Eating Too Much UPF for Athletes
  

• 🗝️ Key Takeaways for Athletes
  

• 🕒 When (and When Not) to Use UPFs
  

• 🎯 This Week’s Challenge
  

🔄 Quick Recap: Ultraprocessed Athletes (Part 1)

Last week we set the stage with Katie Schofield, breaking down what counts as a UPF and why they’ve become the default in so many kids’ diets. We looked at:

The Framework (NOVA):

• 🥦 Unprocessed/Minimally Processed – fruit, veg, meat, milk, eggs, grains.

• 🧂 Processed Culinary Ingredients – oils, butter, sugar, salt.

• 🍞 Processed Foods – frozen veg, canned fruit, bread, cheese.

• 🧃 Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs) – noodles, sports drinks, chips, colourful snack bars, foods with additives & ingredients you’d never cook with at home.

👉 Katie’s tip: “If you can’t pronounce half the ingredients, it’s probably ultra-processed.”

The Stats:

• By age 5, Kiwi kids already get >50% of their energy from UPFs.

• Nearly 70% of supermarket packaged foods in NZ are UPFs.

• In the US/UK, youth diets are 60–80% UPFs.

Parent Strategies:

✅ Aim for 90–95% whole foods, with UPFs used sparingly (tournaments, birthdays).
✅ Teach the “ingredient test.”
❌ Don’t label foods “good vs bad.”
❌ Don’t let UPFs become the default daily fuel.

⚡ Deep Dive: The Effects of Eating Too Much UPF for Athletes

So UPFs taste good, can be really cheap, and are quite literally everywhere. Let’s take a look at what a diet high in UPFs can do to our athletic performance as well as general health. We’ll break it down into six areas:

1. Energy Instability: Spikes & Crashes

• UPFs are designed to be hyper-palatable, usually high in refined sugars, starches, and unhealthy fats. Chris van Tulleken goes further:

• They digest rapidly, causing blood sugar spikes followed by sharp insulin-driven crashes.

• For athletes: this means sudden bursts of energy (good for a sprint), but poor endurance, fatigue mid-game, and inconsistent training intensity.

• Research shows athletes consuming higher amounts of UPFs before performance experience more perceived exertion and faster fatigue onset (Jeukendrup, Sports Med, 2017).

2. Reduced Recovery & Muscle Adaptation

• UPFs are often low in quality micronutrients, and antioxidants.
  

• After training, the body needs nutrient-dense foods (amino acids, vitamins, minerals) to rebuild muscle and fight oxidative stress.
  

• A UPF-heavy diet delays glycogen replenishment, reduces muscle protein synthesis, and increases inflammation markers.
  

• A study in Frontiers in Nutrition (2022) found athletes consuming higher UPF proportions showed impaired muscle recovery compared to those eating whole-food carbohydrate and protein sources.

3. Poor Gut Health → Poor Performance

• UPFs are typically low in fibre and high in emulsifiers and additives that disrupt the gut microbiome.
  

• A disrupted microbiome = weaker immunity, higher inflammation, slower nutrient absorption.
  

• Athletic impact: more frequent illness, GI discomfort in training/competition, and decreased nutrient availability for energy and repair.
  

• Example: Carboxymethylcellulose (a common emulsifier in UPFs) has been shown to cause gut dysbiosis and metabolic problems (Chassaing et al., Nature, 2015).

4. Cognitive Decline: Focus, Decision-Making, & Mental Health

• Athletes need sharp brains to read the game. But UPFs impair executive function, reaction time, and memory due to blood sugar volatility and neuroinflammation.
  

• A Spanish adolescent study (N=600, Nutrients, 2022) found higher UPF intake linked to more depressive symptoms and poorer school performance.
  

• In sport: slower decision-making, lapses in focus, and lower resilience under pressure.

5. Inflammation & Injury Risk

• Diets high in UPFs increase systemic inflammation markers (C-reactive protein, IL-6).
  

• Chronic inflammation impairs tissue healing, joint health, and recovery.
  

• Athletic impact: slower bounce-back from training, higher risk of overuse injuries, and reduced long-term durability.

6. Long-Term Athletic Consequences

Even if short-term effects seem subtle, long-term UPF dominance is devastating:

• Reduced endurance capacity due to poor mitochondrial function.
  

• Hormonal disruptions → impaired testosterone, menstrual irregularities, and stress hormone imbalances.
  

• Increased risk of early chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome — cutting careers short.
  

• Shorter “performance window”: Athletes on high-UPF diets may peak earlier but decline faster.

🗝️ Key Takeaways for Athletes

1. Processing itself isn’t the enemy — a bag of frozen blueberries is processed, but still a great option. The trouble comes when foods are ultra-processed, loaded with additives and stripped of their natural goodness

2. UPFs may give short bursts but may interrupt long-term gains.

3. Athletes using a lot of UPFs are much more likely to see more energy spikes, focus dips, and poor recovery, limiting training progress.

4. Whole foods = the more suitable option for adaptation. Their nutrient density supports stronger muscles, sharper brains, and resilient immune systems.

5. Strategic use of UPFs is fine. A few lollies at half-time or between games can help, but a diet built on noodles, chips, and energy drinks sabotages performance and health.

🕒 When (and When Not) to Use UPFs

If UPFs are so problematic, should athletes avoid them altogether? Not exactly. Like Katie says, it’s not about a “never” rule, it’s about context and purpose. This short passage from a great article at triathlete.com also explains it well:

So, UPFs are:

✔ Useful in Sport as:

• A supplement to whole foods at certain times - they’re a smart option for quick fuel in half-time breaks, tournaments, or long competitions or races.

• Emergency backup when nothing else is available.

• Occasional social use (birthdays, team celebrations).

✘ Harmful in Daily Life as:

• The base diet (lunch noodles + takeaway dinners).

• The only training fuel for EVERY session (poor for recovery/adaptation).

• The default snack in lunchboxes.

🎯 This Week’s Challenge

Big changes don’t happen overnight. Small swaps build momentum. This week’s challenge is about raising awareness first, then experimenting with change.

Parents – With your athlete, read this newsletter and look specifically at the effects of UPF use on performance. Then identify what UPFs are in your cupboards.

Next, do a one-day “fuel audit,” with your child. What % of your athletes food comes from UPFs? Could you improve that ratio tomorrow?

Athletes – We want you to feel the difference between whole foods and UPFs so:

1. Spend a week eating UPFs as training fuel - Ensure you note down at the end of training how you felt each time before and during training, especially in the last 20 minutes.

2. The following week, try eating a Power Plate each meal and note how you felt each training. Compare to the first week.

Not sure what a Power Plate is? Check out this video where Katie explains exactly what it is:

💪 Final Whistle

The verdict from the science is clear: UPFs may be everywhere, but they don’t belong at the heart of an athlete’s diet. They’re built for convenience, not performance.

That doesn’t mean “never”—it means know when and why. Used sparingly in the right moments, they can have a purpose. But if we want athletes to recover faster, think sharper, and thrive longer—whole food wins every time.

See you next week,
— Billinda & Ben (& Katie)

FYA - Fueling Youth Athletes
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