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Widespread consumption of ultra-processed foods is a product of corporate strategy developed by Big Tobacco decades ago and is contributing to an increase in health problems, according to a collection of papers. published Wednesday According to the American Journal of Public Health.
The authors argue that urgent policy changes are needed to address chronic disease-related food consumption, which dates back to the acquisition of food businesses by tobacco industry giants. The authors argue that these companies used tactics perfected in the development of addictive tobacco products to manipulate food content in ways that could facilitate addictive overdose patterns.
According to a collection of papers by Nicolas Chartres, a researcher at the University of Sydney in Australia, “food addictiveness” can be found in ultra-processed foods that encourage compulsive consumption.
“The evidence for the health hazards of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is clear, and there is extensive evidence that processed junk foods have been reformulated to promote overconsumption and intake patterns similar to those observed in nicotine addiction,” wrote Professor Chartres, who is also affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco’s Corporate Harm Elimination Center. The university maintains a database of thousands of pages of confidential internal tobacco industry documents.
Chartres argues that the UPF industry is downplaying the harms of such foods, arguing that individuals must take responsibility for their own health and food choices, and failing to address the “cocktail of chemicals” found in their products.
“These are the same tactics the tobacco industry used to fight to delay regulation,” Chartres wrote.
New research included in the paper adds to evidence that high intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with increased risk of cancer, diabetes, dementia, metabolic syndrome, and other health problems. Researchers reiterate in their editorial brief that 2.3 million deaths worldwide may be linked to consumption of ultra-processed foods.
The papers, published in the journal’s special section, call for the introduction of warning labels, marketing restrictions or bans, and taxes to reduce food consumption, especially for children.
“To truly reduce intake of ultra-processed foods, we need a range of policy options aimed at making healthier foods more available, accessible, and affordable,” nutrition expert and New York University professor Marion Nestle writes in one of the newly published papers.
“fed up!”
The paper’s publication was coordinated with the launch of Fed UP!, a science-first consumer education movement of scientists, researchers, and public health activists “dedicated to exposing the harms of ultra-processed foods and providing Americans with clear, evidence-based information about how the modern food system impacts their health.”
“The food environment is designed to prioritize corporate profits over public health,” Laura Schmidt, a health policy research professor at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement. “People have a right to honest information about how these products are designed and sold, making them extremely difficult to avoid.”
Mr. Schmidt is one of a group of scientists supporting Fed UP! and contributed to a series of papers published Wednesday.
In addition to articles exploring the links between processed foods and the tobacco industry, one article describes how large ultra-processed food companies influence what the public and policy makers know about UPF, and examines their funding of nutrition research, academic institutions and scientific conferences, and leading nutrition scientists and professional organizations. Other studies show evidence that the production of ultra-processed foods causes pollution, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Overall, this collection includes five studies examining UPF consumption and health, two studies analyzing the role of tobacco-owned food companies in shaping the UPF food system, four studies calling for immediate policy action, and six editorials discussing the structural changes needed to address the harms of UPF.
These papers combine data from previous studies and observations on UPF and its health effects, and are intended to be a timely catalyst for policy change, published as the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement demands food policy action from the Trump administration.
Savory snacks and sweets
Those calling for change are clearly allied with President Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long railed against ultra-processed foods and pushed for the reduction of artificial colors and other chemicals in food.
In January, President Kennedy and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins dietary guidelines He called for a “dramatic” reduction in highly processed foods.
And last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study that looked at food consumption from 2021 to 2023 and found that about 55% of the total calories consumed by Americans over the age of 1 came from ultra-processed foods. For children, the rate was nearly 62%.
The study found that sandwiches, sweet bakery products, savory snacks and sweetened beverages were the top sources of calories from ultra-processed foods among young people and adults.
Various states are also addressing unhealthy food consumption with publications and new policy initiatives.
Last month, the California State Legislature passed a bill establishing the nation’s first “Non-Ultra-Processed Certification” seal that food manufacturers can use to sell food that meets the standards. The bill would also require grocery stores across California to carry the sticker on products.
Last year, California banned ultra-processed foods from school lunches and mandated compliance by 2035.
State lawmakers across the country have introduced more than 100 bills aimed at cracking down on chemicals in sugary drinks, synthetic food colors and ultra-processed foods, according to a POLITICO analysis.
Food industry leaders are fighting back, arguing that new state-by-state regulations will make food more expensive for consumers, limit choices and lead to job losses.
The Consumer Brands Association, on behalf of the packaged goods industry, said in a statement that companies “welcome fact-based conversations about nutrition.” The association created the Food Processing Facts and Ingredient Truths website as a transparency tool for consumers about product ingredient and nutritional information. The Truth About Ingredients site states that it is a “myth” that “food processing is harmful.” The Food Processing Facts site states, “Misconceptions about processed foods can lead to poor diet quality, leave consumers lacking important nutrients, increase the risk of foodborne illness, increase food waste, create biases against culturally important foods such as fortified grains, dietary supplements, plant proteins, and infant formula, and exacerbate health disparities.”
“Companies adhere to rigorous evidence-based safety standards and nutrition policies set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide safe, affordable and convenient products that consumers rely on every day,” the association said.
Featured image by Andrej Lišakov on Unsplash+.
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Carrie Gillum is editor-in-chief of The New Lede and a veteran investigative journalist with more than 30 years of experience covering U.S. news, including 17 years (1998-2015) as a senior correspondent for Reuters International. She is the author of Whitewashing: A Story of Herbicides, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science, which exposed the agricultural corruption of the Monsanto corporation. The book won the coveted Rachel Carson Book Award from the Society of Environmental Journalists in 2018. Her second book, the narrative law thriller The Monsanto Documents, was released on March 2, 2021.
She also contributed chapters to a textbook on environmental journalism and a book on pesticide use in Africa.
Mr. Gillum testified about his research as an invited expert before the European Parliament in 2017 and was a featured speaker at the World Democracy Forum in Strasbourg, France in 2019. He has also been a keynote speaker and panel speaker at events and universities in North America, Australia, the Netherlands, Brussels, and France.
Gillam is a regular contributor to the Guardian. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post, Time, and other outlets.
In 2022, Gillum helped launch The New Lede as a journalism initiative of the Environmental Working Group.
Gillum is a member of the Association of Environmental Journalists.
