Foods like ice cream, processed meats, crisps, mass-produced bread and fizzy drinks are ‘displacing’ fresh meals, experts warn
Fast food, snacks, and sugary treats have become staples in the modern diet. In fact, studies have shown that these kinds of foods make up more than half of people’s energy intake in the UK – among the highest levels in Europe.
However, experts warn that ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are “displacing” fresh foods and meals, worsening diet quality, and have been linked to multiple chronic diseases.
In a new paper, global experts have argued that UPFs are a leading cause of the “chronic disease pandemic” linked to diet, with food firms putting profit above all else.
Joining forces, a team of 43 scientists and researchers 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.
“The industry comprises UPF manufacturers at its core, but also a broader network of co-dependent actors who collectively drive the production, marketing and consumption of UPFs.”
Ultra-processed foods – ice cream, processed meats, crisps, mass-produced bread, some breakfast cereals, biscuits, many ready meals and fizzy drinks – have been linked to poor health, including an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer and early death.
They 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. UPFs 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.
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.”
The global team said 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.
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.
The dietary share of UPFs remains below 25% in countries such as Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and across Asia, but it is 50% in the US and UK, the research said.
Commenting on the paper, Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University, said “it seems to me likely that at least some UPFs could cause increases in the risk of some chronic diseases (certainly not all – there’s little evidence of an increase in cancer risk, for instance).
“But this certainly doesn’t establish that all UPFs increase disease risk. There’s still room for doubt and for clarification from further research.”
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”.
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”.
The paper was published in The Lancet medical journal.
