Does your shopping cart look like this? Is it filled with ultra processed foods, sodas and junk food? According to a study by Cornell University Food and Brand Lab in 2015, the researchers, Professor David Just and Brian Wansink of Cornell’s Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, found that there no correlation between junk food intake and a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI).
“Simply put, just because those things can lead you to getting fat doesn’t mean that’s what is making us fat.” “By targeting just these vilified foods, we are creating policies that are not just highly ineffective but may be self-defeating as it distracts from the real underlying causes of obesity,” says David Just.
According to the journal of the European Society of Cardiology, complications in cardiovascular health are a global threat. By 2025, with the rapid increase in obesity, these complications are expected to reach 18% of all men and 21% of all women. This puts burdens on not only the health care systems but the individual, societies and our economy. The PAN India survey created by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) involved 13,274 children between the ages of 9-14 years. The results showed that 93% of the children consumed packaged processed foods, 68% consumed sweetened beverages more than once a week and 53% consumed these foods at least once a day.
Most of the research implicating ultra-processed foods and diseases like cancer comes from European countries. Could profits dictate what is studied and researched in the US?
So why the difference in studies? Does it have to do with where the studies are conducted? In an article that came out of the Daily Mail on May 31, 2024, it claims that the “US government’s top dietitians found ‘limited’ evidence that these (ultra-processed foods) cause people to gain weight faster than any other food.” Supposedly, this came after reviewing multiple studies since the 1990s.
In this article, it references another registered dietician, Connie Diekman who has a practice in Missouri. She claims that there is a bias in determining ultra-processed food and “until we have one definition” “the body of evidence won’t provide a clear answer.” What the article doesn’t mention is that she was also the former president of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) and a co-author of “Superfood Nuts”. The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is the governing body that issues licenses and certifications for all US registered dietitians. In internal documents from 2015 to 2016, it showed that AND happen to own stock in companies like Nabisco, General Mills, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Nestle, PepsiCo and Coke-Cola. It probably doesn’t affect which foods they recommend or endorse (sarcasm). It does very much seem that there is a conflict of interest to invest in companies that produce ultra-processed foods.
The US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) uses their findings in these studies to make public health recommendations for food. Multiple studies are published yearly stating that there is no relationship between ultra-processed food and obesity. There is definitely a bias which occurs from the misclassification of ultra-processed food but is that the real reason?
A study done by the Imperial College in London in 2023, determined that people eating ultra-processed foods are more likely to develop a variety of cancers. Not to mention, an increase in type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, mental health issues, even joint pain.
As long as there are close ties between companies like the AND food companies, there is no way we should accept their studies or findings. It would be reasonable to believe that these companies are giving out kick-backs to promote their products.
