Ultra processed foods and the third age of eating - with Chris van Tulleken

[@Thorsten00]

"You cannot solve a problem that you profit from creating" - pure gold!

[@oldcowbb]

this summarize everything wrong about the modern world

[@tinymouse.travel]

After watching all three of the Christmas Lectures, what a treat to find this talk aimed at adults. Highly recomend watching both if you have access

[@hgrace0]

I’m very happy that we have someone committed to finding out and educating us about the food system

[@mh9563]

Chris VT please start a uk petition for UPF labelling.

[@vatsmith8759]

All the information you need is in the ingredients list on the back of the packet!

[@Neilhuny]

What a great lecture! Much the best version of the various appearances I've seen Chris van Tulleken do about UPFs. As a keen user of the Zoe nutrition app for a couple of years I am delighted to be far healthier than I have been for quite some time.

[@Kodack-ki2im]

How I cut out a huge chunk of processed foods, salt, sugar, fat, and chemicals from my life. I started baking my own sourdough bread from scratch. Just 3 ingredients, water, flour, salt. It's lower calorie than the store bought stuff. It tastes far better than store bought bread. It takes minimal effort to make and bake it once I got my routine down. The only real downside is shelf life in that without all the preservatives, the bread will go stale and start to get mold after several days. But there is an easy solution to that; I slice my bread and freeze what I can't immediately use. As I need more bread, I just take it out and put it in the toaster, or microwave, or let it thaw. The best part is I can tailor the bread flour to my own needs, such as using high gluten flour for more protein, and adding in whole wheat flour, and whole rye flour to add flavor and fiber. In addition to baking bread, I changed my diet to consist of mostly just a few kinds of whole foods. I eat eggs, un processed meats, fruits, and vegetables, and I use butter, avocado oil, salt, no salt substitute, herbs, spices, and acids, for flavor. I've lost 65lbs this year while eating the best food I have my entire life.

[@vatsmith8759]

I just stopped eating bread, much easier!

[@Kodack-ki2im]

@@vatsmith8759 Yeah I did that for awhile, but it turns out while protein is great for building stuff, it lacks as an energy source compared to carbohydrates. A slice of toast with my mostly protein breakfast and I get energy for my workout.

[@krirub8166]

for millions of years humans have never eaten bread because flour did not exist, and we were metabolically healthy because otherwise we would've gone extinct.

[@azalia423]

To add as well, the processed foods by and large come from iz rale which is conducting a h o lo ca us t.

[@ConradPino]

Thank you for hosting this speaker!

[@lizedbf7334]

Can we compare the addiction to processed food with the tabacco addiction? I can only speek for myself and for me the addiction to processed food is impossible to overcome. I have successfully stopped smoking and this craving is no longer a factor in my life. Unfortunately i again and again lose the battle with processed food. I am bouncing from a weight of 60kg to 100kg and back for my entire adult life. At this moment i am 60 years old and i have started my fight against processed food again in the hope to lose 40kg of fat in the coming year. I do hope that this 20th attempt will this time be successful for the rest of my life.

[@borkobartonicek3947]

In a nutshell... Craft your food as much as possible, don't let others craft it for you.

[@sonia14335]

Thank you - please keep up the good work - you have made a difference 🙂

[@someoneinmyhead]

Great talk, indeed, even cooking takes energy and is a good source of joy that's long forgotten by many humans

[@JadeDragon407]

It also doesn't help that the food industry feeds big pharma, and the massive array of drugs that so many are on prescriptions for at least here in the US, nor does it help that the corporations in both sectors are in the pockets of legislative officials who write the laws.

[@edo599]

this needs to be shown on every TV across the world and shown in every electronics store on every TV.

[@m.beland9136]

Thank you! So interesting and relevant for my knowledge and health.

[@zack_120]

38:30 - this is a key, fundamental issue of nutrition worth special discussion!

[@sparshpriyadarshi]

amazing talk.

[@butching6665]

Superb! 👍👍

[@cassieoz1702]

I thought the modern science shows that saturated fat was NOT the bogey man its been made out to be and is very poorly related to cardiovascular health in the absence of ultraprocessed carbs

[@MightyDrunken]

Replacing saturated fats with high glycaemic index carbs increases risk of CVD, but if you replace it with low glycaemic index carbs like fruit and veg CVD chance is reduced. The biggest reduction is if saturated fats are replaced with polyunsaturated fats. Though things are complicated because there are many different types of saturated fats, those from olive oil, chocolate and some others are pretty healthy. Also not all studies see much of an effect.

[@cassieoz1702]

@MightyDrunken the results seem to be all over the place. Also, there's no consistency of measured endpoint. Too many studies are using 'rise in LDL' as a defacto marker for cardiac risk and that has been very seriously challenged to the point of becoming useless.

[@dr.coole.]

Please differentiate between as you say "saturated fat" and the mono and poly unsaturated fats. Seed oils are of course are an UPF. Conversely some saturated fats are not UPF and can be not only healthy but essential to complete nutrition.

[@TheKamraten]

Yet seed oils are better in comparative studies. Take away is upfs are more calorie dense. But all fats have the same calorie per gram.

[@tonycollyweston6182]

What's bad about vegetably derived oils, apart from high energy density?

[@TheKamraten]

@@tonycollyweston6182 Nothing, it's just emtpy carnivore propaganda.

[@therealcaldini]

@@tonycollyweston6182High omega-6 to omega-3 ratios is what we’re told. I’m still finding mixed messages about fats from different sources. Very confused.

[@tonycollyweston6182]

@@therealcaldini the best unbiased information can be obtained on Nutrition made Simple presented by Dr Carvallo.

[@HansVanIngelgom]

I started to work out almost daily this year, from almost nothing. Gained two kilos.

[@IOsononessuno-o4i]

of muscles?

[@HansVanIngelgom]

@IOsononessuno-o4i let's hope so :).

[@IOsononessuno-o4i]

@@HansVanIngelgom ah ah. anyway, it's proved man can gain muscle mass even in his sixties and maybe even further

[@oldcowbb]

started working out since the lockdown, no weight change at all, but i definitely feel less miserable and my heart and lung feels a lot healthier

[@thewraith93]

I love this guy. It's not just a critique of the food system but shows the leech like vampiric nature of capitalism at its worst.

[@TimothyZakaria]

One must look at how food was from the late 1800s and up to today I didn't grow up in Britain but my mom's family is from England and my heart has been with the UK for a long time

[@summergram]

We need to shake off the sugar addiction and listen deeply to our instincts

[@cassieoz1702]

PLEASE! Consensus and fact are not the same thing. What about the cases that have dramatically increased calories (from protein and fat - no or very few grams of carb) and haven't put on weight. The role of insulin in weight gain cannot be dismissed. If youve got HARD evidence, you dont need consensus

[@toni4729]

Where's your long list of oils that are in all the supermarket junk foods?

[@elinope4745]

I definitely ate higher quality, more healthy and more affordable food in the 1990's in USA. Food quality has went down quite a bit since the year 2000 and price has went up as well. edit: Also I disagree that saturated fat is bad so long as you remain in ketosis through strict regulation of carbohydrates. It's actually polyunsaturated fats that are the problem, and the health industry has been lying about this. Many health problems blamed on cholesterol are actually caused by polyunsaturated fat being oxidized while in LDL and mutating to the LDL molecule to become very bad for you. It wasn't the LDL itself, it was the polyunsaturated fat being oxidized while inside the LDL that alters it's shape and function.

[@js1mom]

Great 1st step: government "food" subsidies must be abolished!

[@azharalibhutto1209]

Great ❤❤❤

[@pod1475]

When I go to the supermarket I chose to fruit and veg in my trolley not cake and biscuits, I go out for runs and visit the gym albeit not as much as I'd like, if people stop spending time on social medium or watching senseless reality TV and spent time cooking food from scratch and perhaps went for a walk they won't be so fat, I am tired of making excuses for poor life choices, a pound of bananas is cheaper than the cheapest item in McDonalds, that said the food industry is there to make money by selling absolutely poor quality food, with convenience if ready meals and fast food outlets were taxed akin to tobacco and alcohol you'll a reduction in consumption.

[@sammy5576]

Sure

[@toni4729]

Saturated fat is very expensive. You don't find it in supermarket junk food. The only oils that contain saturated fats are palm oils like coconut oil, and you'll never find butter or lard in junk food.

[@thewraith93]

Yes and because it reduces shelf life as butter and lard will go rancid faster if stored at ambient temperatures

[@dredzone911]

Lard is very cheap

[@toni4729]

@@dredzone911 Yes it is but they can't put it on a supermarket shelf in packet food. It can't last long enough. It would be expected to last for years.

[@dredzone911]

@toni4729 yes. Totally agree.

[@jrperrynz]

Yes UPF is 100% one of the main determinants of obesity. Unfortunately incorrect statements on salt and saturated fats still pervades nutritional dogma. Most UPF includes plant-based carbohydrates and seed oils. High carbs , combined with cheap oils with salt is the toxic combination. This is extremely cheap to produce and profit from. High quality protein, with natural sources of fat and low levels of carbs are expensive to produce, which will not allow companies to scale their profit margins or create the addiction required

[@PaulMawdsley68]

"The human diet was developed primarily by Female scientists..." - a beautiful statement! And I most certainly don't mean that to be misogynist in any way.

[@PibrochPonder]

So does he say his kids are scientists when they mix food up?

[@toni4729]

Please don't demonize saturated fat. It doesn't come in the foods that you're talking about. These companies use the man-made-oils that don't contain saturated fat. That's the trouble with most of them. Saturated fat is in our body, animals and butter. All natural foods. They're too good to make junk food out of.

[@Ozplanman1]

Chris, love your work...but...you need to take a closer look at saturated fats vs highly processed seed oil based products and their roles in oxidation in the body.

[@tonycollyweston6182]

It already has been done, refer to Nutrition made Simple with Dr Cavalo

[@diracflux]

The aroma of fresh baked bread is my downfall.

[@Neilhuny]

Bread machines are extremely easy to use, make great loaves, and you can use the same ingredients your granny would recognise - if you buy good quality flour. Chuck flour, sugar, salt, water, olive oil and yeast in to a machine before bedtime and wake up to fresh cooked bread for breakfast

[@oldcowbb]

@@Neilhuny homeamde bread is still ultra processed

[@Neilhuny]

@@oldcowbb Huh? How so? It has just the ingredients I listed - no extras of any sort in the flour - no vitamin additions, no extra gluten, no calcium carbonate, no preservatives - just wholemeal flour ("wholewheat" in North America?)

[@oldcowbb]

​@@Neilhuny flour by itself is already a processed product with the nutrients way more available than the raw ingredient. I do agree wholemeal flour would be slightly better than white flour

[@tinymouse.travel]

​@@oldcowbb home made bread is processed but not ultra processed (depending on the flour you have access to)

[@idio-syncrasy]

It corresponds to the beginning of neoliberalism.

[@julianshepherd2038]

It pre dates that.

[@toni4729]

Did he even mention meat, fish, eggs and dairy. NO!

[@toni4729]

Buy food without a label or foods that only have one or two ingredients. Then you live a healthy life.

[@fossaflute]

My favorite crop is buckwheat❤

[@samstone8591]

Kellog’s is now Kellonova

[@duarteconchinhas]

Although the message and intention is good, not all processed food are bad, and the hazda study lacks a lot of data relevant like the weight of the subjects or the calories tracking devices used… physical activity helps you a lot

[@cubs9974]

Cool opinion, which uni did you get your medial degree from?

[@duarteconchinhas]

@ not a medical degree, I have a exercise science degree with a masters in exercise physiology (university Lisbon Portugal), 3 post grads in sports nutrition; diabetes and high performance, and I’m now taking my PhD in aerospace physiology while working in exercise physiology in the area covered in the video

[@bretab]

@@duarteconchinhas that was much more of an answer than the snarky person who can't spell 'medical' deserved.

[@merrymachiavelli2041]

Physical activity is great, but it just isn't realistic on a population health level that people will 'burn off' excess calories, and his point is that the idea that it is has been exploited by people selling calories. Even if the Hadza _had_ burnt, say, 4000 calories a day, people working desk jobs who don't forage for food are never going to do that, on average across millions of people. Gym bros are great, but weird.

[@johncarter1150]

Enjoy your predigsted phood!

[@toni4729]

We need meatings about meat. The best food in the world.... Meatings.

[@TimothyZakaria]

I'm all for making food healthier it starts with people overcoming their differences in stores people literally contaminate our everyday foods. I know chips, bread, milk, don't taste good anymore. Milk was my favorite drink for a long time hopefully flavoured milk gets better. Water is a lot of people's drink it cleans germs from our teeth. I like hot food I find it hard to live in cold weather without a heating source

[@aperson2730]

Lacking focus imo

[@johncarter1150]

Maybe it's your diet that made you comment that? I agree too many food facts... too little conceptualization.

[@aperson2730]

@johncarter1150 Nice word "conceptualization".

[@johncarter1150]

Phood horrible phood!

[@lucansanchez5129]

Tea's, crisps, chocolate and sources. All company are making the same thing, just a different brand, same flavours. Is a new brand same flavours supposed to be new or inivation. A genuine bag of crisps that people could call food would have cured jurk meat fried potatoes, dried pea's at least. Genuine chocolate should be based on a chocolate like bounty organic dark chocolate with coconut, this should be based of all chocolate instead of coconut it could be strawberry or banana or apple and pineapple raspberry and any other fruit. But for some reason there's only one genuine chocolate bar that could be classed as food, bounty. Tea hundred of company's all making the same tea all over the world classic and green tea, why? And the same with sources, same flavours just a different brand.

[@carolspencer6915]

💜

[@vleessjuu]

Great talk, but it's a real shame that you back down at the crucial moment. You go through the whole chain of causation and explain everything in great detail. Then you arrive at the conclusion that capitalism is the problem and... you just say that capitalism is like a neutral law of nature that we can't do anything about? Then you go on to talk about poverty (problem caused by capitalism) and corporate capture of regulatory bodies (again: problem of capitalism). Sorry, but I just don't agree with the end of your talk. The problem is capitalism. Simple as. You demonstrated it yourself. It has to go.

[@Ranjanapati07]

Sorry to say that the information and presentation could have been much better, I have listened to many better presentations by other researchers and Nutritionists.

[@andyreact]

I've gone mainly carnivore now, I'm 42 years old and in the best shape ever 💪🥩🍳 sugar and industrial seed oils are killing you!

[@TheKamraten]

Seed oils are more healthy than saturated fats. Facts don't care about your feelings.

[@northyland1157]

The problem is most people do not want to eat healthy, because these processed foods taste so good.

[@pynn1000]

For many, as Chris says, it is almost impossible to avoid completely.

[@julianshepherd2038]

I think you will find it is more complicated than that

[@Ai-yahUdingus]

Someone once told me that if putting a bit of MSG into your vegetable when you cook them makes them taste better and make you more inclined to eat them over, say, jerkey, then use the MSG and stop being scared about every ingredient. Healthy eating is all about a PRACTICAL balance.

[@SpammingUNow]

I disagree.. I think ultraprocessed foods taste like 💩, compared to real food. However, they are extremely addictive.

[@llchapman1234]

Cooking is processing food 😐

[@pynn1000]

That point is made several times already, and the talk is live, not finished. UPF means ULTRA processed food.

[@chrisc8156]

You are talking to a wall - most people have no interest in giving up ultra processed foods. They taste good. Healthy weight and exercise should be the focus of policy. Leave my Oreos alone!!!!

[@tofu-munchingCoalition.ofChaos]

Multiple thoughts about your comment: 1. I don't think most UPF taste good. People confuse "good taste" with wanting to eat more. That's not the same. 2. I don't think UPF are the precise main problem. It's more hyperpalatability which correlates but is not aligned with UPF. 3. The problem with hyperpalatability is that it makes the maintenance of healthy weight just mentally much more challenging than in the past. That's new. The availability of hyperpalatable food is the shift in the food environment that drives obesity. 4. Not all health problems that correlate with UPFs are due to weight. We know that a lot of this food (not all - we shouldn't generalize) is for different reasons unhealthy independent of weight gain. Let it be because of lack of nutrients. Lack of fiber. Microbiome disrupting ingredients. ... 5. But I still think people should have the options to eat unhealthy. 6. What's your opinion on making it easier to identify what's healthy and perhaps give a marketing quota for healthy food?

[@julianshepherd2038]

UPF is cheap

[@cubs9974]

Do they taste good though? Ready meal lasagne vs home cooked lasagne... oreos vs home baked cookies..... think about it really...

[@chrisc8156]

@cubs9974 All pasta - even homemade is ultra-processed. Anything made with white flour is ultra-processed by definition.

[@chrisc8156]

@cubs9974 Same thing with home made cookies - sugar and flour are ultra-processed.

[@user-qjvqfjv]

Gee, sounds like we need RFK Jr.

[@rogerphelps9939]

Not really. He does not like vaccines.

[@AdrianMcGavock-u2g]

​@@rogerphelps9939it's a bot, don't bother replying 🫡

[@julianshepherd2038]

No. We need to remain an independent country

[@user-qjvqfjv]

@@rogerphelps9939 He doesn't like them being forced into children, and he doesn't like certain additives in them.

[@matthewcecil8552]

RFK called and he said you're doing a great job. 😂

[@ThePirateParrot]

Significant difference between an argument based on peer reviewed science and whatever worm is talking to RFK whilst it eats his brain.

[@skyemac8]

Proof worms rule the Cons.

[@Chris-ho2by]

Oh no, Martin Lewis has moved on to food now..

[@user-CIGAxScape]

Despite a powerful and rich subject, still quite a Poor Lecture. Very much disappointed. Not last to mention the Poor accent as well.

[@julianshepherd2038]

A Poor comment

[@AdrianMcGavock-u2g]

@@julianshepherd2038 another bot unfortunately, you can tell from the handle and the poor grammar/punctuation 👍

[@user-CIGAxScape]

@julianshepherd2038 ... NHS professionals ???

[@cubs9974]

Bots are destroying public discourse. Its crazy how effective the bot troll farms are. Very sad times.

[@oldcowbb]

how about some actual criticism instead of an empty comment with ad hominem attack

[@ScienceAppliedForGood]

Stating that what drives obesity are sugar, saturated fat and salt is incorrect. What drives obesity are sugar, fructose and starch and all products you can find theses components in. Dr. David Ludwig explains this in detail in the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of obesity. Also, please read some human metabolism physiology textbooks too. Ludwig DS. Carbohydrate-insulin model: does the conventional view of obesity reverse cause and effect? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2023 Oct 23;378(1888):20220211. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0211. Epub 2023 Sep 4. PMID: 37661740; PMCID: PMC10475871.

[@PibrochPonder]

You are 100% right about this. When I eat added sugar/fructose I put weight on when I eat fructose in fruit I am fine. The number do not lie and the facts in the lecture you point out above explain it all very well