Doctor warns popular food has 'overtaken tobacco' as leading cause of premature death
Every week, it seems like something new is added to the list of things that might be harming our health.
We're seeing more research into the effect of microplastics in our meals, the effects of alcohol and, more recently, the gradual uncovering of the impacts of vaping.
Now, a doctor is warning how a popular food is 'overtaking tobacco' in premature deaths.
Dr. Chris van Tulleken and his twin brother Dr. Xand host the BBC podcast What's Up Docs? where they explore ways to improve our health, addressing foods we once considered safe.
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In a recent interview with Steven Bartlett on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Chris explained that many people don’t fully understand just how dangerous ultra-processed foods really are. The infectious disease specialist referenced his book Ultra-Processed People when he revealed the toxic effects of consuming junk foods.
"For a very long time, we have been incredibly confused about what to eat," he said. "We’ve called the foods that harm us junk food and processed food - high fat, salt and sugar food. We’ve not had a way of labelling food even as a pandemic of disease has taken over the world."
Chris explained that ultra-processed foods are consumed all over the world and can span everything from frozen ready meals to packaged snacks and soft drinks. They tend to be heavy in sugars, trans fats, additives, artificial colours, flavourings and preservatives, with barely any whole foods. On top of that, they can contain harmful substances created during processing.
"So poor diet, which means a diet high in ultra-processed foods, has overtaken tobacco as a leading cause of early death on planet Earth for humans, for the animals we farm and for wild animals," Dr. van Tulleken added.
And it’s not just humans taking the hit. The science presenter said that the production of ultra-processed food has made it the leading cause of biodiversity loss and plastic pollution, whilst it's the second-leading cause of carbon emissions.
Interestingly, Dr. van Tulleken said that some of the best research into ultra-processed foods is coming from countries in Central and South America where "obesity was essentially unheard of and within a decade, it went to being the dominant public health problem".
Many years ago, ultra-processed foods were used to describe a 'Western industrial American diet' but were later linked to obesity as it became a 'dominant public health problem' in the US.
He explained: "The only thing that has changed was the influx of, broadly an American diet of industrial processed foods. The definition was invented in 2009/2010, and we’ve had a decade of evidence now that is very clear that it is ultra-processed food that is responsible, not just for pandemic weight gain and obesity, but also for a long list of other health problems, including early death."
The evidence isn't in shortage either. One study in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) found that a 'higher intake of ultra-processed foods' was associated with 'slightly higher all cause mortality' - exceeding those caused by cancer and cardiovascular diseases.