Ultra-processed people The science behind food that isn't food

In this scathing takedown, van Tulleken (Secrets of the Human Body), a doctor of infectious diseases, studies how ultra-processed foods harm the body and how the corporations that make them put profits above consumer health. He suggests that "UPFs"--which can be identified by their use of such heavily modified ingredients as "stabilisers, emulsifiers, gums, lecithin, glucose"--contribute to heart attacks, high blood pressure, and weight gain because they short circuit the body's system for regulating consumption. Because UPFs tend to be soft and "essentially pre-chewed," they're digested so quickly they don't "reach the parts of the gut that send the 'stop eating' signal to the brain." Van Tulleken catalogues the misdeeds of the corporations that make UPFs, telling how Nestlé's aggressive door-to-door marketing of their products in rural Brazil played a part in the skyrocketing rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes there, and detailing Coca-Cola's covert financing of dubious scientific studies that refute the link between soda and obesity. The science puts into easily understandable language the toll that junk food takes on the body, and van Tulleken's interviews with industry insiders illuminate ("It's all about price and costs. Those ingredients save money," says a biochemist who worked for the British food company Unilever). This impassioned polemic will make readers think twice about what they eat. (June)

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. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.