🌅 Ultra Processed Food Harms Every Organ in Body

SOURCE

The Lancet

WHAT TO KNOW

• Three new studies by 43 public health experts around the world found ultra-processed food (UPF) is linked to harm in every major organ system in the body, driving chronic disease worldwide and posing a significant threat to global health. The authors are calling for government policies to reduce the consumption of UPFs, including warning labels, higher taxes, marketing bans, and restrictions on the use of ultra-processed ingredients in food made for kids. The experts say the measures are similar to those that worked to reduce smoking rates.

WHY IT MATTERS

• UPFs have become ubiquitous in the modern American diet, still representing more than half (53%) of the calories consumed each day in the U.S. (consumption is lower—but increasing—in low- and middle-income countries). Globally, sales of UPFs have also grown in recent decades, rising from $1.5 trillion in 2009 to $1.9 trillion in 2023.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• A separate study by a different research team released last month found UPFs are associated with a higher risk of developing precancerous colorectal polyps—the abnormal clumps of cells that grow in the colon and can develop into cancer—before age 50. While more work is needed, the findings align with other studies and may help explain the skyrocketing rates of colon cancer among young Americans.