Food companies under increasing fire for addictive ultraprocessed foods that have been linked to many health problems
The controversy over ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) is intensifying as consumer awareness of the health risks of such foods grows, and large food companies face blowback over their UPFs on multiple fronts. Incoming Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has called UPFs “poison.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to require warning labels on UPF packaged foods A landmark lawsuit has been filed against 11 major food companies by a Pennsylvania teenager who claims he developed type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease because of eating the companies’ UPFs. The governor of California issued an executive order to crack down on UPFs. The Non-GMO Project is introducing a new certification program for non-ultraprocessed foods.
“Alien to prior human experience”
What are UPFs? Unfortunately, there is no commonly accepted definition. The Pennsylvania lawsuit states that ultra-processed foods are “industrially produced edible substances that are imitations of food. They consist of former foods that have been fractioned into substances, chemically modified, combined with additives, and then reassembled using industrial techniques such as molding, extrusion and pressurization.” The lawsuit claims UPFs are “alien to prior human experience.” Author Michael Pollan has famously referred to UPFs as “edible food-like substances.”
Examples of ultraprocessed foods include sweetened breakfast cereals, carbonated drinks/soda, white bread, flavored candy bars with a long ingredient list, mashed potato flakes, and flavored granola bars with added sugar and preservatives, to name just a few.
According to Michelle Perro, MD and CEO of GMOScience.org, nutrients are lost at every step of the food processing process.
“There are many problems in industrialized foods that are ultraprocessed because the process itself lowers nutrient density, and solvents like hexane and others are used, which are benzene compounds and are carcinogens,” she says.
How prevalent are UPFs? According to some estimates, UPFs account for more than 70% of food items sold in grocery stores. A 2019 National Institute of Health’s study found that more than half of all calories consumed in the U.S. are derived from ultraprocessed foods.
Despite the pervasiveness of UPFs in the U.S. food system, most consumers are unaware of or confused about them. According to a survey of U.S. consumers by Innova Market Insights, only 19% acknowledged they consume UPFs daily. But because most consumers can’t define what UPFs are, 44% identified them as fast food and junk food.
Like addictive drugs
UPFs deliver precise combinations of sugar, salt, and fat that aim to trigger pleasure responses in the brain, like addictive drugs, according to the Non-GMO Project
How the food industry manipulated those three ingredients and created addictive unhealthy foods was documented in the 2013 best-selling book, Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Industry Hooked Us by Michael Moss.
The Pennsylvania lawsuit describes how food companies adopted the tactics of tobacco companies to make UPFs addictive, especially to children. The lawsuit states: “They used their cigarette playbook to fill our food environment with addictive substances that are aggressively marketed to children and minorities.”
Last December, FDA commissioner Dr. Robert Califf admitted, during a U.S. senate committee hearing on the diabetes and obesity epidemics, that the food industry is marketing addictive food.
“The food industry has figured out there is a combination of sweet, carbohydrates, and salt that goes to our brains, and I think it’s addictive,” Califf said. “I think it’s the same neural circuits that are involved in opioid addiction.”
California Governor Gavin Newsome recently issued an executive order to take action on UPFs.
“The food we eat shouldn’t make us sick with disease or lead to lifelong consequences,” Newsome said. “We’re going to work with the industry, consumers and experts to crack down on ultraprocessed foods, and create a healthier future for every Californian.”
Maybe the FDA is starting to get the message about UPFs. In January, the agency announced it will ban the use of Red Dye No. 3 in food after years of lobbying by consumer advocates. Red 3 is a synthetic food colorant found in hundreds, if not thousands, of processed foods, particularly candy and other sweets. The dye has been linked to a range of serious health concerns, particularly for children.
Health risks of UPFs
A growing body of research is finding that UPFs are linked to severe health risks including cancer, cardiovascular and liver disease, and dementia. Here are a few examples:
- A 2024 review published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) looked at 45 studies involving nearly 10 million participants. The review found that eating more UPFs is linked to a higher risk of dying from any cause and is connected to 32 health conditions including heart disease, mental health disorders, type 2 diabetes, and other problems.
- Another BMJ study from 2019 found that “a higher consumption of ultraprocessed foods was independently associated with 62% relatively increased hazard for all-cause mortality.”
- An analysis published in the American Journal of Nutritionin 2023 “found a diet high in UPFs was associated with higher risk of mortality and non-cardiovascular mortality.” The researchers concluded: “Globally, limiting the consumption of UPFs should be encouraged.”
According to Perro, high fructose corn syrup, used in many ultraprocessed foods, is linked to metabolic associated fatty liver disease. She also says that emulsifiers like lecithin are toxic to the gut microbiome.
“They can diminish microbial activity, and we know that immunologic well-being, neurotransmitter production, vitamin production is driven by the microbiome,” she says.
“Tectonic change is underway”
What can people do to avoid UPFS? Eat more fresh and whole foods that are minimally processed, says Perro.
“The fresher foods you can include in your diet that you cook or prepare yourself, the better,” she says. “The more that you can handle the food yourself; buy food from the supermarket, shopping the periphery (of the store), and farmers’ markets; that is better. Minimal cooking and minimal processing.”
To help consumers avoid UPFs, the Non-GMO Project is introducing a new Non-Ultraprocessed food verification program.
TrueFood is a new, free database from Mass General Brigham healthcare system in Boston that has been designed to help consumers avoid UPFs.
A recent article in Forbes warned food companies that a “tectonic change is underway.” It stated: “Big Food must prepare for a tsunami of change that will surely level them unless they embrace new strategies for a world where people are eating less and shunning processed foods.”
Additional sources: Children’s Health Defense, Food Processing, Food Dive, Forbes
