We’ve been taken to task, collectively, for eating too much ultraprocessed food. Pop-Tarts to Cheetos to chicken nuggets to, well, over half of our American diet. This addiction of convenience has been linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems. It’s not just a US problem.
Researcher Carlos Monteiro in Brazil knew of the problem as well as the puzzling drop in people’s purchases of sugar and salt. Now consumers are buying those ingredients in premade cakes, cereals, etc. Other researchers took food processing to task, leading to the term ‘ultraprocessed’ – but it has no good definition. Too much stirring? I think not. Too many flavor additives? We’re getting closer.
A raft of studies changes the focus. For one, the term doesn’t distinguish between good foods, nutritious foods, and low-nutrient-content foods that are calorie-dense. Let’s call the latter poor foods. Note that they are cheaper, made with abundant oils, many forms of sugar such as high-fructose corn syrup, and – here to blame some of my fellow chemists – laden with exquisitely formulated flavor and texture enhancers that are basically addictive. We’re weak-willed individually, alas, so regulations and taxes can help right the ship that goes into our alimentary canal.
This has been an outreach activity of the Las Cruces Academy, viewable at GreatSchools.org.
Source: Nature, 4 Sept. 2025, pp. 22-25
Image: From the article
