I wrote this short post to remind you to be careful what you consume. Remember: “We are what we eat.” Ultra-processed food, in addition to making us sick, is damaging the environment, erasing cultures, shrinking our faces, probably making us infertile, and leaving us defenceless against microbiological attacks. Policy interventions are needed to curb rising ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and in turn, combat associated negative health outcomes and premature mortality.

But what is ultra-processed food?

The name is derived from a relatively recent classification method known as NOVA. (Consider it a competitor to the usual food categories of fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy.) NOVA was developed by Brazilian researchers and has been widely embraced by non-governmental organizations, activists, and researchers during the last decade.

According to The New York Times, Food Group 1 includes “unprocessed or minimally processed foods,” such as meat, fruit, wheat, and pasta. Group 2 includes “processed culinary ingredients” such as oils, butter, sugar, honey, and starches. Group 3 is “processed food,” which includes ready-to-eat combinations of the first two that have been preserved, such as beans, salted nuts, and smoked meat. Group 4 includes “ultra-processed foods,” which are defined as ingredient formulations that are “mostly of exclusive industrial use, made by a series of industrial processes, many requiring sophisticated equipment and technology. Ultra-processed foods are what our parents referred to as junk food: packaged snacks, soda, sugary cereals, energy drinks, and candy bars. These foods, which are high in artificial additives and deficient in critical nutrients, disrupt our evolutionary relationship with what we eat, resulting in a slew of health problems such as obesity, cancer, and even other chronic conditions.

Learn to identify processed foods

Whenever possible, try to avoid or limit ultra-processed foods. Consider the examples in this table to help you quickly determine if a food is minimally processed, processed, or ultra-processed.

Minimally processed	Processed	Ultra-processed
Corn	Canned corn	Corn chips
Apple	Apple juice	Apple pie
Potato	Baked potato	French fries
Carrot	Carrot juice	Carrot cake
Wheat	Flour	Cookies

Indeed, ultra-processed food is primarily designed to maximize profit, with extremely low-cost components and a lengthy shelf life (Van Tulleken, 2023). Everything about processed meals is about profit at the expense of health, according to corporate boardrooms and stockholders who consume the same glop. Those ultrawealthy corporations whose children marry and have future families, all of whom are susceptible to the same ailments as the poor. In other words, the development of ultra-processed food is motivated by cost-cutting strategies that not only lower the nutritional value of the meal but also make it more durable and transportable. This enables the global expansion of food products, disrupting local food systems and economy, particularly in developing countries.

The global supply chains required to manufacture ultra-processed food, which frequently involve acquiring elements from various countries and employing energy-intensive industrial processes, have resulted in an economy where food is no longer about nourishment but rather about profitability. This economic system prioritizes efficiency and profit over public health and the environment. This commodification of food underscores deeper systemic difficulties in which nutrition has been subordinated to corporate interests, resulting in widespread consumption of low-nutritional-value products.

Processed food refers to much more than just the processing. It is the process of growing raw food using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers in plastic-covered beds that are irrigated with plastic. Genetically modified crops laced with proven carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, which are found in every cell.

The study of diet/food, and what distinguishes a healthy diet from an unhealthy diet, is now centred on how it affects our bacteria in our microbiomes. Our microbiome’s health has been related to obesity, cancer, inflammation, depression, anxiety, and physical health. We evolved with our bacteria to live on whole, minimally processed plant foods that supply the complete complex package of a food, including fibres, vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, and undiscovered substances, among other things. Our germs did not adapt to live on processed foods. Until we understand this complex arrangement we have with our microbial ecosystem and see the health of our population decline as a result of major dietary changes, it appears prudent to stick with what we know keeps microbes well fed and happy and to severely limit what we don’t understand and haven’t quantified what it is doing to our microbial selves. Microbiome researchers have already issued dire warnings that modern diets are “starving our microbial selves.”

Regulatory failures and the role of policy in the spread of ultra-processed food

The lack of rigorous monitoring has allowed for the widespread use of chemicals, additives, and procedures in ultra-processed food production without adequate assessment of their long-term health impacts. Thus, it prioritizes the interests of food businesses over public health. Furthermore, the global expansion of ultra-processed food, particularly in low-income countries, is exacerbated by lax regulations, as seen in Brazil, where the introduction of cheap ultra-processed food has displaced traditional whole-food diets, leading to a sharp increase in obesity rates.

This theme emphasizes the need for more stringent regulatory regimes that prioritize health over industry profits. To fight the worldwide health issue created by ultra-processed food, regulatory reforms such as stronger additive control, more transparent labelling, and limiting the marketing strategies of ultra-processed food firms are required. Corporate interests should not influence public health policy, and providing consumers with more knowledge is a more effective technique than outright prohibiting ultra-processed foods. To improve health outcomes, I also recommend that people minimize their use of ultra-processed foods by experimenting with partial elimination or discontinuing them totally.