The Brazilian scientist who coined the term ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is calling for such products to carry a health warning of the type seen on tobacco packaging.
Speaking to the UK’s The Guardian newspaper in the run-up to the International Congress on Obesity in Brazil, Professor Carlos Monteiro of the University of São Paulo said studies and reviews into the impact of UPFs were no longer sufficient to warn the public of the health hazards.
“Public health campaigns are needed like those against tobacco to curb the dangers of UPFs. Campaigns would include the health dangers of consumption of UPFs,” he told the newspaper.
He added: “Advertisements for UPFs should also be banned or heavily restricted, and front-of-pack warnings should be introduced similar to those used for cigarette packs.”
Definitions of what constitutes ultra-processed food differ but in general they are said to contain ingredients not used in home cooking, such as chemicals, colourings and sweeteners, which are used to improve the food's appearance, taste or texture.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed ultra-processed foods and alcohol among four products that cause of 19 million deaths per year globally.
The WHO said specific powerful industries are “driving ill-health and premature mortality across Europe and central Asia, including through interfering in and influencing prevention and control efforts for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers and diabetes, and their risk factors, including tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diets and obesity”.
Its report said 117,290 deaths a year are caused by diets high in processed meats and 252,187 by diets high in salt.
And these figures do not include deaths caused by obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar nor high cholesterol levels - all of which are linked to unhealthy diets, the organisation said.
However, Rebeca Fernández, science director at industry association FoodDrinkEurope, said: “To connect the consumption of processed foods with the tobacco and fossil fuel industries is irresponsible and outrageously misleading. We all need food - and we all need processed food.”
In his interview with The Guardian, Prof. Monteiro said: “UPFs are increasing their share in and domination of global diets, despite the risk they represent to health in terms of increasing the risk of multiple chronic diseases.
“UPFs are displacing healthier, less processed foods all over the world and also causing a deterioration in diet quality due to their several harmful attributes. Together, these foods are driving the pandemic of obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes.”
Monteiro and his colleagues first used the term UPF 15 years ago.
Their system places food and drink into four groups: minimally processed food, processed culinary ingredients, processed food and ultra-processed food.
In March, the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) secretary general Rocco Renaldi spoke with Just Food about the challenges demonisation of processed foods creates for food manufacturers, how he believes this could undermine the role companies are playing in building a sustainable food system and how IFBA intends to engage in the UPF debate.
