Ultraprocessed People - Book rec by James

Ultraprocessed people – by Chris van Tulleken – reviewed by James Atkins

Ultra-processed People was published in Hungarian in June this year. It is a highly

recommended book about ultra-processed food, the industry which manufactures it, and the

effect it has on our physical and mental health.

The author, Chris van Tulleken, is an associate professor at University College London and

a practicing infectious diseases doctor. The book exposes the cynical practices of the food industry. explains how ultra-processed

foods have been designed to be hard to resist and to by-pass the normal dietary controls –

the sense of fullness – which allow us to avoid eating too much.

It catalogues the burden on our physical and mental health of diets which are dominated with

synthetic ingredients which our bodies are not to handle safely; a burden which puts ultra-

processed foods as among the leading cause of early death globally.

What are ultra-processed foods, though? There are complex scientific definitions, but there

is also a very practical one. If it is wrapped in plastic and contains ingredients which you

would not have in your kitchen, then it is probably an ultra-processed food.

The positive side of the story, though, is how quickly our bodies can repair when we stop

eating ultra-processed foods. By shifting to a diet of fresh, home-made foods, made from

real ingredients, and supplementing that with fermented foods rich in probiotics, within days

people begin to feel the physical and mental benefits as they wean themselves off ultra-

processed foods.

“Ultraprocessed people” does not examine in any depth the impacts of different farming

systems on health, but focuses on processed foods, however if does highlight some of the

environmental impacts of human diets based on ultra-processed foods.

If you are interested in diet and nutrition, in how the world’s food industry functions to sustain

itself, or if you just need reinforcing your convictions about the importance of eating real

food, this book is definitely worth a read.