Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn't Food

Chris van Tulleken-father, scientist, doctor, and award-winning BBC broadcaster-made headlines with a dietary experiment that he conducted at University College London. For a month, he ate almost nothing but ultra-processed food, a typical diet for children and adults in the United States. As Chris ate, he spoke to the world's leading experts on food and processing from academia, agriculture and, most importantly, the food industry itself. Now, in a fast-paced and eye-opening narrative, van Tulleken reveals his findings. These products are ubiquitous, are the primary driver of the obesity pandemic, and are the number-one cause of environmental destruction. Yet these products are ruthlessly marketed, often as health food. By tracing the science and economics of UPF, van Tulleken reframes it as an addictive substance and obesity as a "commerciogenic disease," driven by a largely unregulated industry. Marshaling the latest evidence,Ultra-Processed People proposes real solutions to the current pandemic of diet-related disease-for businesses, for policymakers, and for us all.