Ultra-processed food (UPF) is linked to harm in every major human organ , global experts have warned.
UPFs, such as ready meals, crisps, sugary snacks and breakfast cereals, have been linked to poor health, including an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer and early death.
These foods are rapidly replacing fresh food in the diet of children and adults across the globe - with large food corporations using a range of aggressive tactics to drive consumption, skewer scientific debate and prevent regulation, a review published in The Lancet medical journal suggests.
In the study 43 scientists and researchers stated that food firms prioritise profit, leading UPFs to displace fresh options, worsen diet quality, and contribute to multiple chronic diseases.
Study authors said: “The key driver of the global rise in UPFs is the growing economic and political power of the UPF industry, and its restructuring of food systems for profitability above all else.”
A systematic review of 104 long-term studies on UPFs conducted for the review found 92 reported greater associated risks of one or more chronic diseases, and early death from all causes.
UPFs often contain high levels of saturated fat, salt, sugar and additives, which experts say leaves less room in people’s diets for more nutritious foods and encourage overeating.
These foods also tend to include additives and ingredients that are not used when people cook from scratch, such as preservatives, emulsifiers and artificial colours and flavours.
The dietary share of UPFs remains below 25 per cent in countries such as Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and across Asia, but it is 50 per cent in the US and UK, the research said. For some, especially people who are younger, poorer or from disadvantaged areas, a diet comprising as much as 80 per cent UPF is typical.
Writing in The Lancet, the global team said that, although some countries have brought in rules to reformulate foods and control UPFs, “the global public health response is still nascent, akin to where the tobacco control movement was decades ago”.
Researchers added government policy, including in high income countries like the UK, has done little to change the “commercial and structural determinants of the problem”, instead focusing on consumer responsibility, industry partnerships, and voluntary self-regulation in industry, such as when companies replace sugar in some foods with sweeteners, or reduce fat.
Study authors argue that the main barrier to policies to protect health is “industry’s corporate political activities, coordinated transnationally through a global network of front groups, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and research partners, to counter opposition and block regulation.”
These activities include direct lobbying, “infiltrating government agencies”, and filing lawsuits, they added.
The experts argue that the “continuing rise of UPFs in human diets is not inevitable” and, while research into their effects continues, this should not delay policies aimed at promoting diets based on whole foods.
Professor Chris Van Tulleken, from University College London, one of the authors, told a press briefing there had been a “three-decade history of reformulation by the food industry”.
He added: “We took the fat out first, then we took the sugar out. We replaced the sugar with the sweeteners, the fats with gums. These products have been extensively reformulated and we have seen obesity, particularly obesity in childhood and other rates of diet-related disease persistently go up in line with reformulation.
“This is not a product level discussion. The entire diet is being ultra-processed.
“And remember that built into the definition of ultra-processed food is its purpose. Its purpose is for profit. And so as long as you’re reformulating, if your purpose is still profit, you’re unlikely to cause positive health outcomes.”
Several experts commenting on the Lancet papers called for more, better quality research into the impact of UPFs, adding that current studies have shown a link with poor health but not a direct cause.
Professor Jules Griffin, from the University of Aberdeen, said the authors had shown “a wide range of chronic diseases are associated with increased consumption of ultra-processed foods” but “association may not be causation, as the authors freely admit”.
Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University, said: “There’s still room for doubt and for clarification from further research,” he added.
Kate Halliwell, chief scientific officer at the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), which represents industry, said: “Food and drink manufacturers make a wide range of products, all of which can form part of a balanced diet – from everyday food and drink, like frozen peas, wholemeal bread and breakfast cereals, to treats like puddings and confectionary.
“Companies have been making a series of changes over many years to make the food and drink we all buy healthier, in line with government guidelines.
As a result, FDF-member products on sale across shops and supermarkets now contain a third less salt and sugar and a quarter fewer calories than they did in 2015.”
She said the UK’s current dietary advice to eat more fruits, vegetables and fibre and less sugars and salt, is “based on decades of scientific evidence”, adding the FDF agreed there is a need for “better quality research to be able to understand if there’s an additional link between food processing and health”.
