Part 1: Ultra-processed foods, food that isn't food

Chapter 1: Ice Cream That Doesn't Melt
Chapter 2: Chocolate-flavored cereal is an incredible feat of engineering.
Chapter 3: How Ultra-Processed Foods Destroy Your Health
Chapter 4: The Ultimate Ultra-Processed Food: Coal Butter

Part 2: Misconceptions and Truths Surrounding Eating

Chapter 5: How We Evolved to Eat
Chapter 6: Why Self-Regulation is at Risk
Chapter 7: Sugar gets too much flak
Chapter 8 It's Not Your Willpower
Chapter 9: Poor Children Stuck in the Food Swamp
Chapter 10: Some Foods Hack Your Brain

Part 3: How Our Bodies and Brains Destroy

Chapter 11: Ultra-processed foods are pre-chewed.
Chapter 12 Ultra-processed foods have a fishy smell.
Chapter 13: Ultra-processed foods taste weird.
Chapter 14: The World of Food Additives

Part 4: The Dangerous Table

Chapter 15 Regulatory Blind Spots
Chapter 16 The End of the Traditional Diet
Chapter 17 The Real Price of Pringles

Part 5 What We Can Do

Chapter 18 How to Induce Overeating
Chapter 19 What You Can Ask the Government to Do
Chapter 20 What to do if you want to change

Ultra-processed foods aren't actually food.
It is just an industrially produced edible substance.

Let's take out the food you bought at the supermarket and stored in the kitchen cupboard and take a look at the ingredient list.
Modified corn starch, soy lecithin, acidity regulator, guar gum, maltodextrin, palm stearin, protein isolate, dextrose, artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, stabilizers…
It is filled with small letters that are difficult to read.
These ingredients are made using sophisticated equipment and complex processes.
Crops such as corn and soybeans are broken down into components such as oil, protein, and starch, chemically denatured, and then combined with additives and assembled using industrial techniques such as molding, extrusion, and pressure.
It is no exaggeration to say that ultra-processed foods are a triumph of ever-evolving processing science.
Chris Van Tulleken, author of the book "Ultra-Processed Foods: Addicted to Food That Isn't Food," says that if a food's ingredients list contains even one ingredient that is not commonly found in an average kitchen, then that food is considered "ultra-processed."
By this standard, it is difficult to find food that is not ultra-processed.
However, at some point, ultra-processed foods emerged as a leading example of dangerous foods.
How do ultra-processed foods affect our bodies?

Cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic diseases, eating disorders…

Ultra-processed foods may be the primary cause of all diseases.

Chris decided to use his own body to find out how ultra-processed foods affect his body.
It was a four-week dietary experiment in which more than 80 percent of daily calories were consumed from ultra-processed foods.
(This experiment is covered in detail in the viral BBC documentary, What Are We Feeding Our Kids?) After the experiment, Chris's body underwent several changes.
I gained 7 kilograms, developed indigestion, constipation, and anal fissures, had difficulty concentrating, and had trouble sleeping.
One of the most significant changes Chris noticed was that his appetite hormones were completely out of whack.
Hormones that signal fullness barely responded even after a full meal, while hunger hormones spiked immediately afterward.
Leptin, a hormone produced by fat, was five times higher, and levels indicating inflammation doubled.


These results, which suggest that appetite hormones are not functioning normally, are similar to those of a 2019 experiment conducted by Kevin Hall's research team.
The researchers fed 20 adults an ultra-processed diet and an unprocessed diet for two weeks, and then switched the diets between the two groups after two weeks.
Salt, sugar, and fat content were strictly limited, and participants were allowed to eat as much food as they wanted.
The results of the experiment showed that people on the ultra-processed diet ate an average of 500 more calories per day than those on the unprocessed diet, and of course, gained weight.
What's surprising is that participants on the unprocessed diet actually lost weight, even though they could eat as much as they wanted.
It's not like ultra-processed foods are any tastier.
Beyond the 'taste', there was something else that made us overeat ultra-processed foods.
Since this study, a growing body of evidence has emerged showing that ultra-processed foods may be a primary cause of the global surge in health problems.


Ultra-processed foods are foods that have been pre-chewed.
How Soft, Dry Textures Lead to Overeating

Some argue that ultra-processed foods are unhealthy simply because they are high in saturated fat, sodium, and sugar, while being poor in nutrients.
However, studies that correct for all these factors also yield the same results.
This book presents various research examples and argues that the reason ultra-processed foods are harmful is not simply because they are high in fat, salt, or sugar.
It's not the nutritional content that's the problem, but the way it's processed.
For example, industrially denatured, powdered, and compressed foods have their fiber structure completely destroyed, while at the same time they become very soft and easy to chew.
In fact, it is like 'something that was chewed up in advance'.
The softer the food, the more we eat it, and the faster and more we eat it, which not only hinders the development of the jawbone, but also causes dental problems.
Additionally, ultra-processed foods are not only soft but also very dry.
Dryness is extremely important in ultra-processed foods because it significantly extends shelf life by preventing microbial growth within the food.
This is contributing to increasing the profitability of ultra-processed foods.


Cheap ingredients, long shelf life, strong branding
The goal of ultra-processed foods is to create profitable products.

This book delves beyond the health risks of ultra-processed foods and delves deeply into the detrimental impacts of ultra-processed foods on our social and cultural contexts.
Ultra-processed foods are made to maximize profits using extremely cheap ingredients and long shelf lives.
When we think of food processing, we usually think of physically handling food.
But 'hyper-processing' also involves indirect processes such as deceptive marketing, secret lobbying, and fraudulent research to mislead consumers.
All of these factors play a key role in helping companies squeeze money out of consumers' pockets.
This book provides a macroscopic view of how the greed of the food industry has led to the production of edible substances that are no longer food, and the extent to which eating behaviors can affect the world today.
Chris uses examples like the food swamp (areas where there are too many fast food outlets selling ultra-processed foods, making fresh food difficult to find) and the aggressive marketing of ultra-processed foods to children to show that we can no longer ignore this problem and that the issue of what to eat is a pressing one when we think about our children.
We think we choose our own food, but how we choose food is not our personal choice, and no one is free within a food environment designed from which we can never escape.


“We have the right to good food.”
The first step toward solving the ultra-processed food problem

On September 27, 2023, about five months after the book was published in the UK, articles making similar claims appeared simultaneously in all major daily newspapers.
The Times ran an article titled "Are Ultra-Processed Foods Bad for You? Scientists Say Not Always," and The Independent ran an article titled "10 Ultra-Processed Foods That Are Actually Good for You."
The articles featured material from a recent press conference in which five scientists stated that the science behind ultra-processed foods “cannot prove causation.”
However, four of the scientists had significant ties to ultra-processed food manufacturers.


This book argues strongly that researchers publishing research on food should have no conflicts of interest with the food industry.
According to the book, countless studies were funded by giant food companies such as Coca-Cola and Nestlé.
So now we cannot help but ask:
Are the numerous health news stories we see in the media truly trustworthy?
This book presents two fundamental solutions to the problem of ultra-processed foods.
First, put warning labels on hazardous foods.
A labeling system alone would allow people to identify which foods to avoid, a policy that is already working in several Latin American countries.
Second, end conflicts of interest.
Nutrition professionals and organizations should absolutely avoid financial relationships, partnerships, and co-branding with food companies.
This book tells readers that dietary issues, which are greatly influenced by food environment and policies, are by no means individual problems.
We know we should make healthy choices, but we live in a food environment that makes it nearly impossible.
So this book is about our rights.
The right to know what we are eating and how it affects our bodies, and the right to eat good food.