Book: Ultra-Processed People
Author: Chris van Tulleken
Reviewer’s Instagram: diffybooks
Photo Credit: diffybooks
Original Book Review
ultra-processed people by chris van tulleken
this is my favourite non fiction book of the year so far, and is the book that’s actually spurred me on to pick up a few more non-fiction than usual- i’ve read seven already compared to the three i read for the whole of last year!
in a very well-structured manner, van tulleken explains the emergence of UPF (ultra processed foods) onto global food markets. UPF can be defined as food made with anything you wouldn’t find in your kitchen- think chemicals, E numbers etc. it is disturbing how much food is ultra processed, why something as simple as hummus for example (chickpeas, tahini, olive oil) can have up to 30 ingredients when store bought is beyond me. since reading this i have tried to be more conscious of UPFs.
what was the most disturbing in this book is how UPF is targeted towards children and poorer countries. they can be very addictive (obviously depending on what ingredients are in it), but chocolate for example has ingredients added to try and override the body’s natural stop response. companies that sell UPF are trying to cut corners to make the most amount of money- using chemical replacements of real food and covering up any studies that demonstrate long term harmful effects on human consumption and even paying off scientists to make studies that claim they are not harmful. psa: nestle and coca cola are the worst.
i really appreciated that this book wasn’t a “drop everything and eat clean” “you’re fat because of you” – instead, it blamed obesity epidemics on this marketing and governmental inaction on regulating our food. he also does not advocate for eating one way or another, but rather we should all know what’s in our food and also have free choice in supermarkets on what we eat, and we shouldn’t have to spend £££ in order to eat food that hasn’t been ultra processed.
