The rapid worldwide rise in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is fueling chronic disease and requires urgent, coordinated government action, warns a new study.
The three-paper series published in the British medical journal The Lancet, produced by 43 international experts, concludes that UPFs are displacing fresh and minimally processed foods across the globe, worsening diet quality and increasing the risk of conditions including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression and early death.
"The growing consumption of ultra-processed foods is reshaping diets worldwide, displacing fresh and minimally processed foods and meals,” Carlos Monteiro of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil said in a statement.
He added that powerful global corporations are driving this shift through extensive marketing and political lobbying.
UPFs - including products made with ingredients such as hydrogenated oils, protein isolates, and artificial additives - now account for more than half of daily calorie intake in countries like the U.K. and the U.S.
Consumption has also surged over recent decades in Spain, China, Mexico and Brazil.
The authors argue that existing efforts to reduce fat, sugar and salt are no longer enough.
They call for a suite of new policies, from adding UPF markers to front-of-pack labels to restricting advertising, banning UPFs in schools and hospitals and taxing selected products to fund subsidies for fresh foods.
Dr. Camila Corvalan, an expert in childhood obesity, diabetes, and malnutrition, said governments must "step up and introduce bold, coordinated policy action,” while Barry Popkin, director of the Global Food Research Program at the U.S.' University of North Carolina, urged regulators to include "ingredients that are markers of UPFs” on packaging.
The series also highlights the political influence of major food corporations.
With global sales of $1.9 trillion, the sector uses its resources to lobby against regulation, shape scientific debate and delay policy action.
"Just as we confronted the tobacco industry decades ago, we need a bold, coordinated global response now,” said Karen Hofman, founding director of the SAMRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
The authors argue that transforming food systems will require governments, communities and civil society to work together to make healthier diets accessible and affordable for all.
