Addicted to ultra-processed foods, non-food foods

Description

Ultra-processed foods are not actually food
It is just an industrially produced edible substance.

Let’s take out the food you bought at the supermarket and put in your kitchen cupboard and take a look at the ingredients list. Modified corn starch, soy lecithin, acidity regulator, guar gum, maltodextrin, palm stearin, protein isolate, dextrose, artificial coloring, flavoring, sweetener, stabilizer… It’s filled with small letters that are hard to read. These ingredients are made through sophisticated equipment and complex processes. Crops like corn and soybeans are broken down into oil, protein, starch, etc., and these ingredients are chemically denatured, then combined with additives and assembled using industrial technologies like molding, extrusion, and pressure. It would not be an exaggeration to say that ultra-processed foods are the triumph of processing science that is advancing day by day. Chris Van Tulleken, the author of this book, “Ultra-processed Foods, Addicted to Food That Isn’t Food,” says that if even one of the ingredients listed on the ingredients list is not commonly found in an ordinary kitchen, then the food is considered “ultra-processed.” By this standard, it is hard to find food that is not ultra-processed. Nevertheless, ultra-processed food has emerged as a representative of dangerous food at some point. What kind of effect does ultra-processed food have on our body?

Cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic disease, eating disorders… .
Ultra-processed foods may be the primary cause of all diseases

Chris decided to use his own body to find out what ultra-processed foods were doing to his body. For four weeks, he was given a diet that consisted of more than 4 percent of his daily calories from ultra-processed foods. (This experiment is covered in detail in the BBC documentary What Are We Feeding Our Kids?) After the experiment, Chris’s body changed in many ways. He gained 80 pounds, had indigestion, constipation, and gingivitis, had difficulty concentrating, and had trouble sleeping. The most significant change he noticed was that his appetite hormones were completely out of whack. The hormones that signal fullness barely responded even after a full meal, while his hunger hormones spiked right afterward. His leptin, a hormone derived from fat, was five times higher, and his levels of inflammation doubled. These findings, which suggest that appetite hormones are not working as they should, are similar to those found in a 7 study by Kevin Hall and his team. The researchers fed 2019 adults an ultra-processed diet and an unprocessed diet for two weeks, and then switched the diets for the two groups. The salt, sugar, and fat content were strictly limited, and the participants were allowed to eat as much as they wanted. The results showed that those on the ultra-processed diet ate an average of 20 more calories per day than those on the unprocessed diet, and of course, they gained weight. What was surprising was that the participants on the unprocessed diet actually lost weight, even though they ate as much as they wanted. It wasn’t that ultra-processed foods tasted better. There was something else going on that made people overeat ultra-processed foods beyond just the taste. Since this study, more and more evidence has emerged that ultra-processed foods may be the primary cause of the global surge in health problems.

Ultra-processed foods are foods that have been chewed beforehand.
How Soft, Dry Textures Lead to Overeating

Some argue that ultra-processed foods are bad for your health simply because they are high in saturated fat, sodium, and sugar, and low in nutrients. However, studies that correct for all of these factors yield the same results. This book presents examples from various studies and argues that ultra-processed foods are not just bad because they contain a lot of fat, salt, or sugar. The problem is not the nutritional content, but the way they are processed. For example, industrially denatured, powdered, and compressed foods completely destroy the fiber structure and become very soft, making them easy to chew. In effect, they are “pre-chewed.” The softer the food, the faster and more we eat it, and it also hinders the development of the jawbone, which leads to dental problems. Ultra-processed foods are not only soft, but also very dry. Dryness is very important in ultra-processed foods because it prevents the growth of microorganisms in the food, thereby extending its shelf life. This contributes to the profitability of ultra-processed foods.

Cheap ingredients, long shelf life, strong branding
The purpose of ultra-processed foods is to create highly profitable products.

Beyond the health risks of ultra-processed foods, this book delves deeply into the detrimental social and cultural contexts of ultra-processed foods. Ultra-processed foods are processed to maximize profits with extremely cheap ingredients and long shelf lives. When we think of food processing, we usually think of the physical processing of food. However, “ultra-processing” also involves indirect processes such as deceptive marketing, secret lobbying, and fraudulent research. All of these elements play a key role in companies extracting money from consumers’ pockets. This book provides a macroscopic view of how the greed of the food industry has led to the production of edible substances that are no longer considered food, and how eating behavior can affect the world today. Chris uses examples such as the food swamp (areas where there are too many fast food outlets selling ultra-processed foods, making it difficult to find fresh food) and the aggressive marketing of ultra-processed foods to children to show that this issue can no longer be overlooked, and how urgent the issue of eating is when we think of children. We think we choose our own food, but how we choose food is not our personal choice, and no one is free within a food environment that is designed to be inescapable.

“We have the right to good food.”
The first step toward solving the problem of ultra-processed foods

About five months after the book was published in Britain, on September 5, 2023, articles appeared in all the major newspapers making similar claims. The Times ran “Are Ultra-Processed Foods Bad for You? Not Always, Scientists Say” and The Independent ran “9 Ultra-Processed Foods That Are Actually Good for You”. These articles were based on a recent press conference in which five scientists, four of whom had important connections to ultra-processed food companies, said that the science behind ultra-processed foods “cannot prove cause and effect.”
This book repeatedly argues that researchers who publish research results on food should not have any conflicts of interest with the food industry. According to the book, countless studies have been financially supported by large food companies such as Coca-Cola and Nestlé. So now we have to ask ourselves, are the numerous health news we have seen in the media really trustworthy? This book proposes two fundamental solutions to solve the problem of ultra-processed foods. First, put warning labels on harmful foods. The labeling system alone will allow people to identify which foods to avoid, and this policy is already effective in several Latin American countries. Second, end conflicts of interest. Nutrition experts and organizations should absolutely avoid financial relationships, partnerships, and co-branding with food companies. This book tells readers that dietary issues, which are greatly influenced by the food environment and policies, are never an individual problem. We know that we should make healthy choices on our own, but in reality, we live in a food environment that makes it nearly impossible. So this book is about our rights. The right to know what we are eating and how it affects our bodies, and the right to eat good food.