ULTRA-PROCESSED PEOPLE

A fact-filled, discouraging attack on the modern diet.

Van Tulleken, an infectious disease doctor and TV and radio commentator, rocks no boats by agreeing that our convenient, highly refined, additive-rich, chemically enhanced food is making us unhealthy. He has no kind words for “junk food,” but he also reveals the distressing details behind many of the organic, ultra-processed foods (UPFs) that tout their relative healthiness. “Almost every food that comes with a health claim on the packet is a UPF,” he writes. Unfortunately, as van Tulleken shows, denouncing unhealthy food (containing too much sugar, salt, fat, and calories and too little fiber) hasn’t worked. People in nations where calorie consumption has dropped, including in the U.S., continue to get fatter. The author defines unhealthy food not for its ingredients but for how it’s processed. Generally soft and energy-dense, UPFs are literally addictive. The author also devotes generous space to obesity, the world’s leading dietary disorder. Most writers of this genre give advice on dieting, but van Tulleken, sticking to the science, admits that diets’ success rates are close to zero. It’s proven (but widely disbelieved) that obesity is not the result of weak will power, gluttony, or indolence but rather a mixture of genetics and environment. UPFs are cheap, so being poor is a risk factor. Delving into immersion journalism, the author tests the effects of spending a month on a diet containing 80% UPFs. At the end, he gained 13 pounds, and his appetite grew, but the food became unpalatable. Realistic to the end, van Tulleken maintains that UPF manufacturers will never make better food because it’s designed to be consumed in the largest possible quantities. Healthy food, made to be consumed less, will never sell as well as food that’s consumed more. Everyone, including food industry professionals, agrees that only stronger government regulations will improve matters. Unfortunately, in most countries, especially the U.S., that’s unlikely to occur.

A painfully eye-opening study of food and health.