#55 [2023/CBR15] Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken

I like the idea of eating and living in a healthy way, so I've read a number of nutrition/food books. However, this topic is so complicated, and there are so many opinions that it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. It seems that everyone has an agenda and can cherry pick data to support their cause. Perhaps that's why I thought Michael Pollen's advice from In Defense of Food was the most helpful: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

You could say that Chris Van Tulleken ends up in a similar place in his 2023 book Ultra-Processed People: Why We Can't Stop Eating Food That Isn't Food--that ultra-processed food is bad for you and the environment. And even though I agree with his conclusions, I was sometimes frustrated by the lack of specificity in both his definitions and his argument. For instance, Tulleken describes ultra-processed food as anything that comes in plastic and has at least one ingredient that you would not find in your kitchen. But he also describes it as anything that is aggressively advertised--even if it doesn't fit the first definition. Or it can be something that is made--not to nourish--but to make money.

In addition, Tulleken cites studies that have shown that it's not just the excess sugar, salt, etc. put into ultra-processed food that's detrimental. Studies have shown that even when food has the same amount of fat, protein, carbohydrates, and calories, the ultra-processed food is linked to worse health outcomes. However, whenever he is describing how ultra-processed food is doing all this damage, he most often mentions sodas and sugary sweets that do have a lot of extra sugar we wouldn't normally be eating. I think that we honestly just don't fully understand the why or how yet, even if we do understand that ultra processed foods are not good for us.

This book did make me think about food differently, though. Tulleken describes ultra-processed food as not even being real food anymore. Instead it's engineered flavors and textures to make you eat as much as possible. And studies have shown that people eat more calories of ultra-processed food than real food.

Tulleken also describes how the introduction and heavy advertising of ultra-processed food in very isolated areas of Brazil caused significant health problems for the population, including obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay. These foods were primarily very high in sugar, but the effects have been devastating.

One thing I wish Tulleken had been able to cover more is what kind of bad things in ultra processed foods should we be trying to avoid. (Even Tulleken understands how difficult it is to avoid ultra-processed foods entirely--especially if you are short on time or money.) I would have liked to know how I can limit the detrimental effects without making everything I eat from scratch. Although Tulleken does discuss emulsifiers and what they may be doing to our gut, there wasn't too much information on what all those mysterious words on the packages are and what they do to us. For instance, there are tocopherols in my "natural" granola, but all the other ingredients look good. How bad is that on the scale of bad ultra-processed foods?

Although I often wanted more information, I found this book to be interesting, informative, and eye-opening. Recommended.