Science with Luke: Ultra-Processed Food
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What exactly counts as ultra‑processed food and why does it matter?
The Pat Kenny Show on News Talk. Now, ultra-processed food has become a huge part of our diets, packaged bread, breakfast cereals, ready-made meals, snacks, and soft drinks. And a major new analysis of more than eight point eight million people has found that higher consumption of these foods is associated with increased risks of a range of health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and premature death. But what exactly counts as ultra-processed food? How concerned Should we be about it? And is it the processing itself that is the problem? Well, Luke O'Neill is a professor of biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, and he joins me now. Good morning, and I know you're in here beaming from ear to ear, because really all Luke wants to talk about this morning was the fact that he had exclusive access to you two last night.
Good morning, K. Yeah.
It's fantastic. Yeah, and they played in Beullies, you're we know it's all over the media, but uh luckily I got to see them and it was the best gig I've been to in a long time.
And Luke is happy to pay his two hundred and twenty six euro.
I would, I'd pay double. With all the hits and Bonner was in great form and all the crowd were buzzing, so it was a great occa great great occasion.
And we will have special audio from Henry McKean of that coming up a little later on the programme. But back to something a little more pedestrian, quite serious. Yep. Look, and that is ultra-processed food and this study. So this is a study that looked at over fifty studies that involved nine million people. It was comprehensive. So can we now say, are we at the point where it is definitive that there is a link between consumption of those foods, those types of foods and these diseases.
We're nearly certain at this stage. You're right though to raise it, 'cause if you eat ultra processed food, you might be doing other things that are bad for you as well. You know, it's a bit of a a confounder there. But this study is massive. Can you imagine nearly nine million people? Fifty-one studies monitored very closely what they were eating, and then their risk of heart disease and so on.
How strong is the evidence linking ultra‑processed foods to heart disease, diabetes and cancer?
So the numbers are very strong. And so we think the link is now pretty pretty certain almost. And it's obvious we've known this for years, haven't we? If you eat the wrong kind of food, it can't be good for you. Kind of you know, and then that was anecdotal. But now now the science really, really supports that.
And what is it? Is it the actual processing of the food itself or the ingredients added to the food, the extra sugar or salt or fat or the low nutritional value? What's causing the damage?
That's the key question. And nutritionists don't like it too much sometimes. Not all processed food is bad. Some cereals are full of fiber. That's really good for you, for instance. You know, tinned fish is actually very good, even though it looks like it might be processed. So it's not everything that you would call processed is bad. It's the ultra is the word. It's any food uh with stuff in it that wouldn't be in your kitchen. That's one kind of definition. Emulsifiers, additives, colours, these sorts of things. That that's what counts as processing. It doesn't have to be necessarily high sugar or high fat. That's part of it, of course. High salt is bad for us, high fat is bad for us. But it's more those sort of man made chemicals being stuck into the food.
T typically it's things like you know ready made meals. Look at the label on these things. You've never heard of half the stuff in that food, have you? So if you don't know what's in it, more than likely you're classified as ultra processed is is the way to think of it.
And what is the damage that is it doing? What part of the body is it attacking as it were?
Well that's the next thing, 'cause I'm I'm very mechanistic in my world. What what how adults what's in the food that's actually causing the problems? And they found things like acrylamide, these are chemical names, acrylamide, acrylene, the plastics that are in the wrapping, these are known to have toxic things in them.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What exactly counts as ultra‑processed food and why does it matter?
0:01–1:57
2
How strong is the evidence linking ultra‑processed foods to heart disease, diabetes and cancer?
1:57–3:48
3
Is it the processing itself or the added ingredients that cause health damage?
3:48–6:20
4
What inflammatory pathways are triggered by chemicals in ultra‑processed foods?
6:20–8:18
5
How does ultra‑processed food disrupt the gut microbiome and affect immunity?
8:18–10:08