For years, the mantra ‘there’s no such thing as bad food, just a bad diet’ has been the junk food industry’s default defence. But that could all be about to change, writes Jim Manson
The food industry mantra ‘there’s no such thing as bad food, only a bad diet’ has served junk food manufacturers and fizzy drink makers well over the years. Wheeled out at the first mention of a new obesity crisis study, or the slightest hint of a sugar tax or advertising ban, it’s been the industry’s default defence position. Its can’t-argue-with-that logic has enabled the industry to completely control the debate on food and health.
All that could be about to change with publication of two important new studies.
The first, led by scientists at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, examined the eating habits of people in 19 European countries. It revealed shockingly high levels of ‘ultra-processed’ food in the diet. In Britain, for example, ultra-processed food accounts for 50.7% of the total diet. Germany, Ireland, and Finland aren’t far behind at 46.2%, 45.9% and 40.9% respectively.
The term ultra-processed here it not some casual coinage. It’s a precisely defined description that forms part of the NOVA classification, which has quickly established itself as a powerful tool for nutrition and public health research. Importantly, NOVA categorises food according to the intensiveness of food processing, rather than in terms of nutrients. It breaks food down into four groups: ’Unprocessed or minimally processed’; ‘Processed cooking ingredients’ (such as vegetable oil); ‘Ordinarily processed (such as cheese and cured meat); and ‘Ultra-processed’.
Lead researcher Carlos Monteiro argus that ultra-processed foods are not really foods at all but rather “formulations mostly of cheap industrial sources of dietary energy and nutrients plus additives, using a series of processes”. His team has shown that these ‘food’ products, which form up to half of our total diet, are “energy-dense, high in unhealthy types of fat, refined starches, free sugars and salt, and poor sources of protein, dietary fibre and micronutrients.” In other words, demonstrably bad food.
A second study, by a team at Universite Sorbonne Paris Cite in France, hints at how bad.
The Paris researchers examined the diet and health outcomes of over 100,000 participants from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort (2009-17). In their large study the researchers found that a 10% increase in the proportion of ultra-processed food in the diet was associated with a 12% increase of cancers of some kind. They conclude that “increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods may drive an increasing burden of cancer in the next decades”.
“Ethical questions around the manufacturing, marketing and sale of ultra-processed foods and drinks are likely to come into increasingly sharp focus, as the ‘no such thing as bad food’ defence is progressively dismantled by the science”
Although direct causal connections between ultra-processed foods and cancer have not been demonstrated by the study, one major cancer charity says it sends a “warning signal”. And, of course, it adds to an already enormous body of research linking diet – and particular food types – with serious noncommunicable diseases (including heart disease and stroke, diabetes and cancer). The difference with these two new studies is that they point to a previously less well defined culprit – ultra-processed food.
Ethical questions around the manufacturing, marketing and sale of ultra-processed foods and drinks are likely to come into increasingly sharp focus, as the ‘no such thing as bad food’ defence is progressively dismantled by the science.
NPG reported recently on the Swedish organic food store owner and activist Johannes Cullberg who is waging war on what he calls ‘fake food’ – and the big grocery retailers who sell it. He says: “The question the people who run these businesses should ask themselves is ‘would you want your family eating some of the crap you sell?’. If not, don’t sell it. Only sell food you’d like your family to eat!”.
Need a new mantra? Try that.