#ultra processed foods

[vitalnourish]

What’s really in our food?

Recently, many people have been checking the ingredient lists of our food to determine if it is ultra-processed. We are able to see strange sounding ingredients on the back, but what exactly do they do to our food?

Let’s examine a proclaimed ‘healthy’ food, a gluten free KIND bar. Its ingredients include;

tapioca syrup, produced from tapioca starch that is used as a thickener, sweetener, and stabiliser. It has been linked to causing fatty liver disease.

vegetable glycerin, a sugar alcohol that is a byproduct of the soap and biodiesel industry. It can lead to nausea and diarrhoea.

palm kernel oil, made by the bleaching, deodorising and neutralising of crude palm oil. It increases levels of bad cholesterol.

Keep in mind that these effects are shown when the ingredients are eaten in excess, however 60%-90% of the average American diet are full of these foods (that are ultra processed). Learn your ingredients!

Sources;

Dr. Chris van Tulleken

Learn - the whole truth. (n.d.). The Whole Truth Foods. https://thewholetruthfoods.com/learn

[gamer2002]

When Trump takes your position, change it.

[grrlterrier]

Weird little comic I made about how ultra processed food affects the lower class. If you didn’t know, over 70% (probably higher at this point) of the food in grocery stores is ultra processed, and with produce prices sky-rocketing, over half of the average American diet is ultra processed. With the cost of living getting higher and accessible nutrition plummeting, we are all exhausted— yet somehow people still have the audacity to tell us we’re in this position because we “don’t work hard enough”. These people don’t understand that to work harder you need fuel. They don’t know what eating boxed mac and cheese and instant noodles for every meal does to your body and mind because they’ve never had to experience it.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Cecilia Nowell at The Guardian:

When Project 2025 began making headlines this summer, it was largely for the ways the conservative “wish list” of policies for a future Trump administration would restructure the entire federal bureaucracy, deepen abortion restrictions and eliminate the Department of Education.

But the document – a proposed mandate for the next Republican president authored by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank – also outlines steps that would radically transform food and farming, curtailing recent progress to address the excess of ultra-processed foods in the United States. Among those: weakening the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), ending policies that consider the effects of climate change – and eliminating the US dietary guidelines. “This is a deregulatory agenda,” said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food policy at New York University. “And what we know historically from deregulation is that it’s really bad for consumers, it’s bad for workers, it’s bad for the environment.”

Project 2025 proposes changes to the country’s food assistance programs, like Snap and the Women, Infants and Children supplemental nutrition program (Wic), that Nestle believes are intended to dismantle such programs. It also calls for ending support for school meals. But one of the most notable of its proposals is calling on the next Republican president to eliminate or reform the dietary guidelines. Those guidelines form the basis for all federal food policies, from school meals to Snap, Wic and other programs.

“There is no shortage of private-sector dietary advice for the public, and nutrition and dietary choices are best left to individuals to address their personal needs,” the document reads. The food industry has long pushed the idea that chronic, diet-related health conditions, like diabetes and obesity, are the result of individual choices – like not exercising enough. Today, nearly 42% of adults in the US are obese and about 12% have diabetes. But nutritionists emphasize that those conditions are not the result of a moral failing, but rather conditions caused by the ingredients and policies (like aggressively advertising to children) pushed by food companies. Nestle sees that as one of many pro-business policies outlined in Project 2025’s agricultural provisions that trusts companies to prioritize public health over profit. “There’s twice as many calories available in the food supply as the country needs on average. So the food industry is enormously competitive in selling calories,” she said. “Republicans want to deregulate, and give those food businesses every opportunity to make as much money as they possibly can, regardless of the effects on health and the environment.” Experts also fear the way Project 2025 could undermine the work being done by the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture to limit the flow of ultra-processed foods in the US food supply.

Today, ultra-processed foods make up 73% of the US food supply, according to Northeastern University, and provide the average US adult with more than 60% of their daily calories. While the science is still emerging, researchers are increasingly linking UPFs to a range of health conditions including diabetes, obesity, depression and certain cancers. At the FDA, work is currently under way to develop a front-of-package label that corporations would be required to print on the fronts of products indicating when an item is high in sugar, fats, sodium or calories (the exact label has not yet been made public). Although the label wouldn’t specifically indicate when a food is ultra-processed, it would likely apply to a high percentage of UPFs in the food system because many contain large quantities of those nutrients.

Warning to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and co. who are backing Donald Trump on the basis that he would clean up the food supply: Project 2025 calls for rollbacks that would limit the tools needed to fight against ultra-processed foods.

[caavakushi]

Vegan Chef Babette Davis - Food Combining, Nutrition & Processed Foods

[chickenscratch-comics]

[spotlightstory]

Scientists Call for Warnings, Ad Bans on Ultra Processed Foods

Minimal Process: shelled nuts, washed vegetables, fresh items used to make home cooked meals

Processed: tinned fish, frozen vegetables, cheese

Ultra Processed: many breakfast cereals, packaged snacks, sugary beverages, chips, frozen meals

Researchers say ultra-processed foods that are high in fats, starches, sugars and additives now make up 73% of the U.S. food supply, even though they are linked to health issues like diabetes, obesity, cancer and depression. Scientists say these foods should be regulated with tobacco-style warnings and advertising bans. Trish Cotter, global lead for the Food Policy Program at Vital Strategies, joined CBS News to discuss ultra-processed foods.

"Ultra Processed foods are things you can't make in your kitchen. They use edible ingredients that are pulled apart and put back together using industrial processing. They add to it a cocktail of additives, emulsifiers, colors, flavors and the end result is something that is hyper-palatable. There's a texture that's attractive. These products are ready to eat; ready to heat and unfortunately they are taking up too much of our diet."

[politely saying factory food is created to be addictive, full of chemicals and it leads to major health problems]

When she started naming chips, packaged food ready to heat, like lasagna....the announcer cuts in and ends the interview. BAH! Protect the advertising $$$.

[tudonormar]

[cruisingxdystopia]

Glitchtober Prompt: STEW (Special appearance by the Gowanus Canal) SEWAGE OR...STEWAGE?

[ghettomealspo]

The food industry is manipulating you, don't let it win.

[runveganwankerrun]

3rd July '24

Not a great day all round yesterday. Injured calf stopped the run with T. She went ahead and was able to go ahead and do her twenty minutes, which was brilliant. I wasn't jealous. Honest! (I was SO jealous!)

The GG went to the shop to get himself a treat and for the first time in two months, I got him to get me some ice cream. The worst thing I ever discovered was Ben & Jerry's vegan range. I can't not eat the whole rub (an aside, have you seen how much smaller the tubs have become‽ Same price obviously, for less product) so as these things go, yes, I ate the whole tub. And I did enjoy every mouthful, sort of. It was nice and I suppose I enjoyed it, just not enough to be worth the calories. My MyFitnessPal total for the day was a disaster, obviously.

Oh, and I didn't stick to my IF routine either. Two days in a row I've eaten a bit after 10pm, and yesterday, I ate before 12pm.

Today, as I can't exercise, I'm going to eat much more carefully. Extra kimchi and nothing processed today. I might make soup. That always fills me. And I'll stick to the midday to 8pm timetable.

[rainyfestivalsweets]

OMG, this is a Must Watch!

The good industry is dirty- Kiana is talking about it and bringing forth amazing points!

Let's talk about it!!

Fast food is $$$$.

She points out that fast food prices, often blamed on inflation have risen higher and faster than inflation actually has. AND most chains have discontinued healthier options, like chicken breast and/or a simple salad.

The Pivot to target Ozempic Users

That's right! A food company giant is pivoting to target Ozempic and Wegovy users with ultra processed foods like pizza and pasta... with "higher" protein.

The truth bombs Continue....

One author is found to be PAID by huge companies... to blast back against the ANTI UPF book published last year....

If you need a reason to stop eating crap- this is it. These companies KNOW they are unhealthy. They know. And will continue as long as their profit margin remains.

Time to drive them bankrupt.

BANKRUPT

Like Dodgeball says "You gotta get angry! You gotta get mean!"

[tineid]

Hey you know tobacco companies? Whose business model is "get people addicted to a thing that kills them, then extract as much money as we can before they die"? TIL that a lot of them diversified into food companies where they designed ultra-processed foods that are addictive and kill you.

I tell my friends to avoid UPFs, but I also know that we're in an affordability crisis and UPFs are significantly cheaper than the alternatives. Many people literally can't afford to stop eating something that is killing them.

Study source

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Laura Bassett at Men's Health:

LESS THAN A year after launching his independent campaign for president, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. began shopping around his endorsement—and the loyalty of his small but significant base—to both major political parties in exchange for a cabinet position. Kamala Harris reportedly rejected a meeting with him outright. Donald Trump, however, has taken him up on the offer, announcing that in exchange for Kennedy’s endorsement, he’d let the anti-vaccine candidate “go wild” on health, food, and medicine if he wins a second term. Kennedy says Trump has promised him control of multiple government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—which includes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Therefore, a hybrid anti-vax and Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement was born: MAHA, short for “Make America Healthy Again.”

Supporting this movement to push Kennedy voters toward Trump is the MAHA Alliance, a Super PAC led by Del Bigtree, former communications director for the Kennedy campaign and CEO of the anti-vax group Informed Consent Action Network. The operation appears to be widely geared towards men, partnering with right-wing influencers like Russell Brand and Jordan Peterson who champion traditional masculinity, and aims to combine “the health-conscious, independent-minded voters with Trump’s proven ability to disrupt the status quo,” according to its mission statement. “This includes prioritizing regenerative agriculture, preserving natural habitats, and eliminating toxins from our food, water, and air.”

Some of MAHA’s goals sound pretty great in theory—especially during a time when public trust in the medical system and American food safety are so low. Incentivizing sustainable farming, improving soil health, protecting natural habitats, and cleaning up our air, water, and food are goals everyone should be able to get behind, paired with a viable policy strategy and leaders who are actually willing to take on the big oil and big agriculture lobbies to address our systemic environmental problems.

[...]

Meanwhile, other ideas being pushed by the movement and by Kennedy himself—like eroding public trust in vaccines and peddling pseudoscientific alternatives to vaccines—are downright dangerous to public health. In an October 25 post on X, Kennedy threatened to dismantle the entire FDA if Trump is elected, accusing the agency of “aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma.”

Many of these buzzwords he’s using—ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine in particular—are just snake oil alternatives to the Covid vaccine that don’t work, and in some cases, actually kill people. Jennifer Nuzzo, Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, told me that Kennedy’s tweet “is straight from the anti-vaxxers' playbook that aims to sow doubt about credible medical approaches in order to sell and profit from unproven alternative approaches.”

[...]

Encouraging people to drink raw milk is another very dangerous health trend being promoted by supporters of the movement. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Fla.) recently waded into this one, tweeting a glass of unpasteurized milk with the caption, “Raw milk does a body good. Make America Healthy Again!” The problem is, by skipping the process of killing off harmful bacteria in milk, we are leaving it potentially contaminated with lethal pathogens. “Pasteurization has been one of the most effective public health measures ever, essentially ending the illnesses that used to come from drinking tainted milk,” explains Dr. Nestle. “Infectious diseases used to be the leading causes of death and disability among Americans. Public health measures effectively ended them. It makes no sense to bring them back.”

One thing MAHA gets somewhat right is addressing the serious health harms of microplastics and “forever chemicals,” which have been linked to chronic disease, heart attack, and stroke. It’s great that we’re starting to pay attention to those. Unfortunately, though, the Trump administration created a loophole during his final few months in office that allows companies to dodge having to report how many forever chemicals they’re discharging into the environment.

Laura Bassett wrote in Men’s Health what the MAHA movement gets right and wrong (and it’s mostly wrong) about our state of health.

[capitalism-is-parasitism]

Ultra-processed people

“Above all, a restaurant should never be just a way of extracting money in exchange for nutrition,” Van Tulleken says. “Or for paying dividends to offshore investors. And I think these things are actually obvious even if you don’t live, like me, in a world of nutritional studies.” …

His months of eating badly served to show that what he was consuming was not food, it was, as one academic colleague kept insisting to him, “an industrially processed edible substance.” Or “food that lies to us.”

Working in central Africa he saw lots of kids dying of infections. “And the reason they died,” he says, “was not because we lacked antibiotics. It was that they were being fed baby food made up with filthy water … milk formula was directly marketed to families as aspirational.” The more he witnessed of this tragedy the more it became clear that “the solution should be to try to limit that corporate [marketing] power, rather than needing more antibiotics. What we now call the commercial determinants of health.” … It is no accident, he suggests, that tobacco giants Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds acquired, respectively, Kraft and Nabisco in the 1980s: “They knew they had a set of technologies they could apply to food.”