By Emma Clarke

 

LONDON, 22 Nov. - (ANA) - The rise in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) has led to a "chronic disease pandemic", experts have warned.

 

In a new report published in The Lancet, scientists and researchers have criticised global food companies for putting "profitability above all else".

 

"The global public health response is still nascent, akin to where the tobacco control movement was decades ago," it continued.

 

As well as drawing links between UPFs and chronic diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, the team condemned the delay in policy-making around UPFs, citing a "co-ordinated efforts of the industry to skew decision-making, frame policy debates in their interest, and manufacture the appearance of scientific doubt."

 

Professor Chris van Tulleken, from University College London, one of the paper's authors, said that diet-related diseases had increased in line with a "three-decade history of reformulation by the food industry."

 

However, he also stressed that "this is not a product level discussion. The entire diet is being ultra-processed."

 

Professor Carlos Monteiro from the University of São Paulo, meanwhile, added that the findings underscored the need for urgent action to tackle UPFs. "The first paper in this Lancet series indicates that ultra-processed foods harm every major organ system in the human body," he said. "The evidence strongly suggests that humans are not biologically adapted to consume them."

 

 

 

 

While a lot of the food we eat is processed to some degree – for example, in order to make bread, you need to mix the raw ingredients – ultra-processed foods are slightly different, in that they contain ingredients and substances not used in home cooking.

 

UPFs tend to be foods that have undergone various processing steps and contain additives and E-numbers, which are designed to preserve them for longer and enhance their taste.

 

The Nova scale breaks foods down into four groups, helping us work out which are the most processed.

 

 

 

 

- sausages

 

- bacon

 

- cured meats

 

- fizzy drinks

 

- packaged snacks, like pastries, pies and pizzas

 

- chocolate and sweets

 

 

 

 

 

 

1- Obesity and weight gain

 

2- Type 2 diabetes

 

3- Hypertension

 

4- Dyslipidaemia (abnormal levels of lipids in the bloodstream)

 

5- Cardiovascular disease or mortality

 

6- Coronary heart disease or mortality

 

7- Cerebrovascular disease or mortality

 

8- Chronic kidney disease

 

9- Crohn's disease

 

10- Depression

 

11- Colorectal cancer

 

12- Inflammatory bowel disease

 

 

 

 

While the best way to know what's going into your food is to make it from scratch at home, it's not always practical or possible.

 

Checking the label is, therefore, the next best thing. Ideally, the foods you buy and eat from the supermarket will have five ingredients or less.   - (ANA) -

 

 

AB/ANA/22 November 2025 - - -