Doctor warns of food that's 'worse than smoking' that most of us eat every day

In a recent episode of the Steven Bartlett's popular Diary of a CEO podcast, Dr Chris van Tulleken revealed to the host that there's one common food group possibly deadlier than smoking and the chances are that it's part of your everyday diets.

The infectious diseases expert and BBC science and health presenter has spoken about his new book, entitled 'Ultra Processed People'. During the conversation, Dr Chris discussed our relationship with food, saying: "For a very long time, we have been incredibly confused about what to eat.

"We've called the foods that harm us junk food and processed food, high fat, salt and sugar food. We've not had a way of labelling food even as a pandemic of disease has taken over the world."

Highlighting the global impact of poor diets, he said: "This is particularly true in low income countries and particularly true with low income people living in the UK."

"So poor diet, which means a diet high and ultra processed foods (UPF), has overtaken tobacco as a leading cause of early death on planet Earth for humans, for the animals we farm and for wild animals."

He pointed out that this is directly linked to the larger environmental crisis "because ultra-processed food is produced by food system that is the leading cause of loss of biodiversity and the second-leading cause of carbon emissions and the leading cause of plastic pollution".

Obesity was 'unheard of'

"So about 12 years ago, the definition was developed to describe a western industrial American diet. And it was done by a team in Brazil, and much of the best work on this stuff has been done by teams in Central and South America."

He mentioned that this is due to the fact that in regions such as Mexico, Columbia, and Brazil, "obesity was essentially unheard of and within a decade, it went to being the dominant public health problem".

There was a time when obesity was rare, but now, merely a decade later, "everyone would know someone who had an amputation for type two diabetes."

The doctor then clarified what has changed: "The only thing that has changed was the influx of, broadly an American diet of industrial processed foods.

"The definition was invented in 2009/2010 and we've had a decade evidence now that is very clear that it is ultra processed food that is responsible, not just for pandemic weight gain and obesity, but also for a long list of other health problems, including early death."

Food as addictive as alcohol or gambling

He emphasized that UPFs are as addictive as tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and drugs for some individuals, with this assertion being supported by evidence. Moreover, he cautioned that "nagging" someone to stop consuming junk food to lose weight and improve health is counterproductive as it "pushes people towards doing things that are harmful and generally makes them more likely to do the thing you're nagging them about."

He cited a study has concluded that: "High UPF consumption is associated with an increased risk of a variety of chronic diseases and mental health disorders. At present, not a single study reported an association between UPF intake and a beneficial health outcome. These findings suggest that dietary patterns with low consumption of UPFs may render broad public health benefits."

Furthermore, reinforcing these conclusions, another study stated: "Higher UPF consumption was associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality risk, with multiple metabolic pathways playing mediating roles."

Reacting to the video, a YouTube commenter shared their personal experience: "I cannot overstate how much Chris has changed my life in the space of just 5 months. In early June I watched a podcast in which he was a guest and he spoke about the same topic.

"Since the 6th June 2023, I've cut out ultra-processed food almost entirely from my diet. Initially I thought it'd be impossible to find foods without crap in it but it's actually been really easy. When I fancy a snack I have an apple or a few grapes, or some nuts. I have a variety of home cooked meals every night.

"For breakfast I have a 'full fat' natural yoghurt (containing just milk) and occasionally I'll have toast with organic jam or scrambled eggs on the weekend (bread sourced from a bakery)."

The individual shared their personal experience with dietary changes, saying: "The home cooked meals aren't what people would consider particularly healthy (plenty of meat, cheese, starchy foods) and I've not cut down on portion sizes. In the last five months I've gone from 112KG to 99.9 KG (as of yesterday). The only other lifestyle change I've made is to take a one-hour walk every week day. Other than this, I've done no other exercise in the last 5 months whatsoever."

For those interested in exploring the impact of diet on health, the full episode of The Junk Food Doctor titled "THIS Food Is Worse Than Smoking!" featuring Chris Van Tulleken's Ultra-Processed People can be viewed here.