Chris van Tulleken

Recommended by Lauren and Felix

Chris van Tulleken provides a different lens through which to examine what we eat and why, and how food is made and marketed. Based on mountains of others' original research, and his own medical expertise and willingness to learn from new information, he introduces the NOVA framework for classifying foods, which divides food into four groups: (1) unprocessed or minimally processed, (2) processed culinary ingredients (e.g. butter, sugar, salt, honey, vinegar), (3) processed food (e.g. canned beans or fish), and (4) ultra-processed food (UPF). It is this fourth category that is concerning on so many levels, from human health to the health of the planet. And because the companies that make and market UPF (Nestle, Coke, etc.) won't change without outside regulation, it is up to governments to require changes. (This doesn't even necessarily need to hurt the companies financially; tobacco and pharma are highly regulated and highly profitable.)

See also: Once Upon A Time We Ate Animals by Roanne Van Voorst; Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Quotes/notes

Diet-related diseases come from the collision of some ancient genes with a new food ecosystem that is engineered to drive excess consumption and that we currently seem unable, or perhaps unwilling, to improve. (8)

Policies in the UK and almost every other country have failed to solve obesity because they don't frame it as a commerciogenic disease - that is, a disease caused by the marketing and consumption of addictive substances. (8-9)

...to make choices we all need accurate information about the possible risks of our food, and that we should be less exposed to aggressive, often misleading marketing. (9)

Here's the theory: the main reason for the rapid increase in overweight and obesity throughout the world, especially since the 1980s, is the correspondingly rapid increase in production and consumption of ultra-processed food and drink products. (32)

In short, there aren't any supplements that work for healthy people. Beneficial nutrients only seem to help us when we consume them in context....outside the context of possible deficiency vitamin supplements don't work....food and food extracts are not the same. (47)

Almost all juices and fizzy drinks are acidic enough to dissolve a tooth.(120)

Obesity is caused by increased food intake, not inactivity, and the best evidence...shows that, by food, we mean UPF. (132)

When any industry funds research, the findings are typically biased in favor of the funder - not in every single study, but overall this pattern is very consistent. (134)

...inactivity is not a significant contributor [to obesity] and that the primary cause is ultra-processed food and drink. This is an existential threat to the companies whose existence depends on the sales of these products. (135)

[By alleviating or curing] poverty, especially childhood poverty, we could cut the risk of obesity in half without any other intervention. (145)

"Some ultra-processed foods may activate the brain reward system in a way that is similar to what happens when people use drugs like alcohol, or even nicotine or morphine." (Nicole Avena, 153)

...a high UPF diet...is linked to more deaths globally than tobacco, high blood pressure or any other health risk....Since the risks are so high, there may be advantages to considering UPF as an addictive substance. It may help to reduce some of the stigma....It allows the affected person to focus outwards on the industry causing the harm...rather than inwards on personal failure. (167)

...we may be eating more food to compensate for becoming increasingly deficient in micronutrients. Ultra-processing reduces micronutrients to the point that modern diets lead to malnutrition even as they cause obesity. (190-191)

Flovourings...are a proxy for the low micronutrient content....whether the flavourings are 'natural' or artificial is irrelevant. (192)

The [1950s] report said: "Eminent pharmacologists, toxicologists, physiologists and nutritionists expressed the fear that man of the chemicals being added to food today have not been tested sufficiently to establish their non-toxicity and suitability for use in food." (227)

GRAS = generally recognized as safe (228)

This is known as self-determination. You can simply decide whether you think your product is safe and then put it in food. (229)

The burden of proof should be on the companies that make and use additives to demonstrate long-term safety....Why is the burden of proof on civil society groups, activists and academics to show that adding thousands of entirely synthetic novel molecules to our diet might be harmful? (235)

"Factory farming and UPF are two sides of the same industrial food coin" (Rob Percival, 257)

We could at least imagine a system arranged around agro-ecological farming and the consumption of a diverse range of fresh and minimally processed whole foods. (265)

Everyone at every level of the food industry I spoke with agreed: regulation must come from outside. (279)

"commerciogenic malnutrition" - malnutrition caused by companies [e.g. through aggressively marketing baby formula in low-income settings] (288-289)

"It's not food. It's an industrially produced edible substance." (Fernanda Rauber, 303)

The requirement for growth and the harm it does to our bodies and our planet is so much part of the fabric of our world that it's nearly invisible. (304)… (more)

I read as much of this as I cared to, and skimmed others parts. Much of the book is repetitive, sometimes contradictory and the author makes some claims based on shaky science or the results of one small study. A lot of the filler in the book is personal stories and opinions. In retrospect, I was surprised this was a 2023 Goodreads Choice nominee for Best Nonfiction.

I have no doubt ultra processed food additives are often unhealthy. On the other hand, I don't think the author can make the claim many diseases and obesity are caused solely by the unnatural additives, as a large percentage of UPF products also contain a lot of added sugar, salt or unhealthy fat to entice our tastebuds. (The author even admits this at one point.) Ultimately, avoiding as many processed foods as possible, pretty much sums up the advice given in the book.… (more)

I've certainly been reading plenty lately about how bad processed food is for you. Problem is, "processed food" has always been so weakly defined. Beer, bread, cheese, tofu? Very processed. But evil? No, but hot dogs, Doritos, baloney - processed and OBVIOUSLY evil. Why? They don't define the difference.

And then there's all the talk about feeding your "gut biome." I even read a study recently that tried to tell me it was healthier to eat a steak than ground beef. Come on! After I chew it, it's all the same, isn't it?!

What we have here is a much more in-depth treatment than those attention-grabbing media articles, and I am thankful. Here we get definnitions - and they come from the "NOVA" system of classification. (I don't think he ever tells us what the acronym stands for, and I think that might be because it's not English - I think this system came out of Brazil.) Foods fall into four groups: unprocessed; processed culinary ingredients; processed foods; and ultra-processed foods.

A decade ago, everyone's rule of thumb came from Michael Pollan - don't eat anything with more than 5 ingredients. Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. Van Tulleken's got a similar heuristic to offer - don't eat anything with ingredients that don't represent things you can find in your kitchen.

HA! Joke's on him. My kitchen's got xantham gum (which he hates).

There you have it. Yes, cheese, beer, and bread are processed. But they are not "ultra-processed." You could make them in your kitchen (granted they take a little bit of talent and ingredients you can't get at the convenience store). But you know very well you couldn't make hot dogs in your kitchen. Or Doritos. You KNOW what ultra-processed food (UPF) is.

A lot of the book was pulling every conceivable threat out of the air that could be associated with UPF - decays tooth enamel and makes your jaw smaller! Seriously! I didn't care so much for that aspect of the book. Focus. You can convince me very well to avoid UPF without all the threats of Crohn's disease and mental illness and autoimmune disease and everything else you can throw at the wall.

Funny quote about how he can't fathom people who aren't interested in food (ditto). "I still find indifference to food hard to understand. I plan dinner at breakfast. When I'm at a wedding, my whole focus is on the canapes. My holiday itineraries are just lists of restaurants and markets." I'd say I identify with this 110% except for one thing. You plan dinner at breakfast? Breakfast on the SAME DAY? Amateur.… (more)