April 29, 2025 • 10 mins
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey, everyone, Welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Today,
I want to talk about a new research paper that's
just been released that I think is yet another nil
in the coffin of ultra processed foods. So it was
published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and the
title is Premature Mortality Attributable to ultra process food Consumption
(00:35):
in eight Countries. So what they did was they looked
at a number of different countries, ones in Central and
South America. So they picked Columbia, Brazil, they picked Chile
and Mexico, and then they picked Australia, Canada, United Kingdom
and the US. And the reason for picking these countries
(00:56):
is that a couple of them were low consumers of
ultra process foods i Columbia and Brazil, a couple were
intermediate consumers Chile and Mexico, and the rest of them
were high Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States,
which if you've listened to my podcast before, are four
of the biggest of the four biggest consumers of ultra
(01:19):
processed foods in the world, the biggest one being the
United States, swiftly followed by the United Kingdom, and then
we have Canada and Australia. And what they did was
they looked at the percentage of ultra processed foods in
the diets of the population in those different countries. So
they looked at national surveys. So for instance, the Brazil
(01:43):
one was in the year twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, that's
when the survey was done, and this is for people
of thirty to sixty nine years old, and the main
consumption of ultra process food in Brazil was seventeen point
four percent of calories in the diet. Contrast that with
the United States that was fifty four and a half percent.
(02:06):
That was from the big national survey in twenty seventeen,
twenty eighteen. Now again these are data for thirty to
sixty nine year olds, So let's take case in point
of the United States, fifty four percent of all calories
consumed by thirty to sixty nine year olds were ultra
process foods. We know that similar time, they looked at
(02:28):
diets of teenagers and they had a whopping sixty six
percent of their calories were from ultra process foods. Again
very similar to UK. They had about sixty six percent
two thirds of all calories consumed by teenagers in recent
years were from ultra process foods. But the data that
they used in this that was from a survey in
(02:49):
the United Kingdom of twenty eighteen to nineteen and fifty
three percent, just over half of all calories consumed were
from ultra process foods. And then Canada it was twenty fifteen,
data was forty three point seven percent, Australia was twenty
eleven to twenty twelve. So this data is fourteen years
(03:10):
old and that was thirty seven point five percent amongst
that population. Now and those numbers are definitely higher particularly,
and what I mean by that is today they're definitely
higher because, for an instance, in the United State, it's
seventy three percent of all foods sold in supermarkets are
(03:31):
ultra process foods. I think we can reliably say that
in the United States and United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and
you could throw in New Zealand into this, over half
of all calories consumed across the entire population are from
ultra processed foods and drinks. And so some people have criticized.
(03:53):
You may have seen some of this. This research paper
has been out in the news today, and some people
have criticized the idea of ultra processed foods because it's
a bit too blunt. Now, a lot of those people
are big food that are talking about this, saying this
(04:14):
is a very blunt instrument, and you know, we don't
really know for sure, and it could be just that
some other researchers are saying, well, these foods tend to
be high in fat, sugar, and salt, and maybe it's
that rather than the processing. The counter argument to this
is that we know from all the research that's done
(04:36):
in ultra processed foods, and I've got at least fifty
research papers on ultra processed foods RISKS, so we know
consistently that these foods, as well as having high in sugar, fat, salt,
and those sorts of things, they also contain most of
them emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, and preservatives and often colorings, and
(05:02):
we know that those things all disrupt the gut microbiome.
So let's get back to the study. But what I
wanted to do is say that when you take not
just looking at this paper in isolation, but the totality
of evidence that's emerging around ultra processed foods. I think
there's a massive smoking gun that's going on here. And
(05:25):
obviously there is a continuum of ultra processed foods. Just
to take a step back, they typically tend to have
five or more ingredients and are produced large scale industrial
processing such as factories, and they have constituents of food
parts of food, and they're not kind of real food.
(05:48):
As I say, this food hasn't been alive that Now,
breakfast cereals tend to be an ultra processed food other
than rolled oats. Now, clearly there's a continuum. You take
week bits brand fleets on one end and the cocoa
pops and things like that on the other end. There
is clearly a continuum. But I think this ultra process
(06:11):
foods is a very very good guideline for people. But anyway,
let's get back to the study. What the study actually
found was that an increasing ultra process foods in the
diet by ten percent increased your risk of all cause
mortality that is, death by anything by three percent. Now,
(06:35):
some people might think thirty percent increased risk of death
by any cause isn't absolutely huge, But when you comper
somebody eating a healthy diet like in Brazil, were. As
I said, the numbers of ultra processed food consumption, or
the rate of ultra process could consumption, was under twenty percent.
(06:57):
That's what we typically see in speed pass countries like
spaing in Italy, it's less than twenty percent and consumed
across the population. If you compare that with the United
States and the UK, and to a lesser extent, Canada
and New Zealand and Australia, there's a thirty percent difference
(07:19):
in those countries, which ramps up to a ten percent
increase in all cause mortality. Now a ten I don't
know about you, but for me, a ten percent increase
in all cause mortality is absolutely freaking massive. I think
you might remember the big hullabaloo come out a number
(07:41):
of years ago, and it was all splashed across the
papers that bacon causes bill cancer. And this was about
process meets increasing your risk of bill cancer. And that's true,
that's undeniable. I think the evidence is pretty strong. But
what it's it was basically an extra fifty grams a
(08:03):
day of processed meats and increase your risk of ball cancer,
a single disease, by eighteen percent. This is all cause mortality.
This is death by any cause, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes,
all of those things. And when you combine this study
(08:25):
with the recent Umbrella review that I have talked about
that looked at all of the different studies that were
done on ultra processed food so far and basically find
convincing class one evidence that these foods increase the risk
of a whole host of different diseases. So, just from memory,
(08:47):
I think anxiety it was it was something like a
forty between forty and fifty percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease,
the biggest killer, Like that's massive. A forty three percent
increase risk in anxiety it was something along that and
something like a fifty two percent increased risk in common
mental health disorders. And this is class one convincing evidence.
(09:10):
So when we line all of this stuff up, the
study showing that they disrupt the got microbiome the additives
in them, as well as this study here and the
Umbrella review, I think it is very very clear, beyond
the shadow of a doubt, that ultra processed foods are
(09:30):
killing us, and they're killing our kids. And the real
concerning thing for me is the amount of this stuff
that teenagers eat, and not just to remind you. As
I said earlier, recent data has shown in the United
States and in the United Kingdom, and I think it
would be very very similar in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
(09:52):
Sixty six percent of all calories consumed by teenagers are
ultra process crap. This me is a national health emergency
and we need to just wake up around this. So
that's not a very pleasant wisdom Wednesday, but I think
it is buyer bewre If it looks like it hasn't
(10:16):
been alive, it's in your treat foods. That's it for
this week, folks, catch you next time.
Hey, everyone, Welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Today,
I want to talk about a new research paper that's
just been released that I think is yet another nil
in the coffin of ultra processed foods. So it was
published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and the
title is Premature Mortality Attributable to ultra process food Consumption
(00:35):
in eight Countries. So what they did was they looked
at a number of different countries, ones in Central and
South America. So they picked Columbia, Brazil, they picked Chile
and Mexico, and then they picked Australia, Canada, United Kingdom
and the US. And the reason for picking these countries
(00:56):
is that a couple of them were low consumers of
ultra process foods i Columbia and Brazil, a couple were
intermediate consumers Chile and Mexico, and the rest of them
were high Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States,
which if you've listened to my podcast before, are four
of the biggest of the four biggest consumers of ultra
(01:19):
processed foods in the world, the biggest one being the
United States, swiftly followed by the United Kingdom, and then
we have Canada and Australia. And what they did was
they looked at the percentage of ultra processed foods in
the diets of the population in those different countries. So
they looked at national surveys. So for instance, the Brazil
(01:43):
one was in the year twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, that's
when the survey was done, and this is for people
of thirty to sixty nine years old, and the main
consumption of ultra process food in Brazil was seventeen point
four percent of calories in the diet. Contrast that with
the United States that was fifty four and a half percent.
(02:06):
That was from the big national survey in twenty seventeen,
twenty eighteen. Now again these are data for thirty to
sixty nine year olds, So let's take case in point
of the United States, fifty four percent of all calories
consumed by thirty to sixty nine year olds were ultra
process foods. We know that similar time, they looked at
(02:28):
diets of teenagers and they had a whopping sixty six
percent of their calories were from ultra process foods. Again
very similar to UK. They had about sixty six percent
two thirds of all calories consumed by teenagers in recent
years were from ultra process foods. But the data that
they used in this that was from a survey in
(02:49):
the United Kingdom of twenty eighteen to nineteen and fifty
three percent, just over half of all calories consumed were
from ultra process foods. And then Canada it was twenty fifteen,
data was forty three point seven percent, Australia was twenty
eleven to twenty twelve. So this data is fourteen years
(03:10):
old and that was thirty seven point five percent amongst
that population. Now and those numbers are definitely higher particularly,
and what I mean by that is today they're definitely
higher because, for an instance, in the United State, it's
seventy three percent of all foods sold in supermarkets are
(03:31):
ultra process foods. I think we can reliably say that
in the United States and United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and
you could throw in New Zealand into this, over half
of all calories consumed across the entire population are from
ultra processed foods and drinks. And so some people have criticized.
(03:53):
You may have seen some of this. This research paper
has been out in the news today, and some people
have criticized the idea of ultra processed foods because it's
a bit too blunt. Now, a lot of those people
are big food that are talking about this, saying this
(04:14):
is a very blunt instrument, and you know, we don't
really know for sure, and it could be just that
some other researchers are saying, well, these foods tend to
be high in fat, sugar, and salt, and maybe it's
that rather than the processing. The counter argument to this
is that we know from all the research that's done
(04:36):
in ultra processed foods, and I've got at least fifty
research papers on ultra processed foods RISKS, so we know
consistently that these foods, as well as having high in sugar, fat, salt,
and those sorts of things, they also contain most of
them emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, and preservatives and often colorings, and
(05:02):
we know that those things all disrupt the gut microbiome.
So let's get back to the study. But what I
wanted to do is say that when you take not
just looking at this paper in isolation, but the totality
of evidence that's emerging around ultra processed foods. I think
there's a massive smoking gun that's going on here. And
(05:25):
obviously there is a continuum of ultra processed foods. Just
to take a step back, they typically tend to have
five or more ingredients and are produced large scale industrial
processing such as factories, and they have constituents of food
parts of food, and they're not kind of real food.
(05:48):
As I say, this food hasn't been alive that Now,
breakfast cereals tend to be an ultra processed food other
than rolled oats. Now, clearly there's a continuum. You take
week bits brand fleets on one end and the cocoa
pops and things like that on the other end. There
is clearly a continuum. But I think this ultra process
(06:11):
foods is a very very good guideline for people. But anyway,
let's get back to the study. What the study actually
found was that an increasing ultra process foods in the
diet by ten percent increased your risk of all cause
mortality that is, death by anything by three percent. Now,
(06:35):
some people might think thirty percent increased risk of death
by any cause isn't absolutely huge, But when you comper
somebody eating a healthy diet like in Brazil, were. As
I said, the numbers of ultra processed food consumption, or
the rate of ultra process could consumption, was under twenty percent.
(06:57):
That's what we typically see in speed pass countries like
spaing in Italy, it's less than twenty percent and consumed
across the population. If you compare that with the United
States and the UK, and to a lesser extent, Canada
and New Zealand and Australia, there's a thirty percent difference
(07:19):
in those countries, which ramps up to a ten percent
increase in all cause mortality. Now a ten I don't
know about you, but for me, a ten percent increase
in all cause mortality is absolutely freaking massive. I think
you might remember the big hullabaloo come out a number
(07:41):
of years ago, and it was all splashed across the
papers that bacon causes bill cancer. And this was about
process meets increasing your risk of bill cancer. And that's true,
that's undeniable. I think the evidence is pretty strong. But
what it's it was basically an extra fifty grams a
(08:03):
day of processed meats and increase your risk of ball cancer,
a single disease, by eighteen percent. This is all cause mortality.
This is death by any cause, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes,
all of those things. And when you combine this study
(08:25):
with the recent Umbrella review that I have talked about
that looked at all of the different studies that were
done on ultra processed food so far and basically find
convincing class one evidence that these foods increase the risk
of a whole host of different diseases. So, just from memory,
(08:47):
I think anxiety it was it was something like a
forty between forty and fifty percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease,
the biggest killer, Like that's massive. A forty three percent
increase risk in anxiety it was something along that and
something like a fifty two percent increased risk in common
mental health disorders. And this is class one convincing evidence.
(09:10):
So when we line all of this stuff up, the
study showing that they disrupt the got microbiome the additives
in them, as well as this study here and the
Umbrella review, I think it is very very clear, beyond
the shadow of a doubt, that ultra processed foods are
(09:30):
killing us, and they're killing our kids. And the real
concerning thing for me is the amount of this stuff
that teenagers eat, and not just to remind you. As
I said earlier, recent data has shown in the United
States and in the United Kingdom, and I think it
would be very very similar in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
(09:52):
Sixty six percent of all calories consumed by teenagers are
ultra process crap. This me is a national health emergency
and we need to just wake up around this. So
that's not a very pleasant wisdom Wednesday, but I think
it is buyer bewre If it looks like it hasn't
(10:16):
been alive, it's in your treat foods. That's it for
this week, folks, catch you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.