Ultra-processed “Food”: A Toxic, Addictive Cash Cow
How the Food System and its Corrupt “Experts” and “Regulatory” Agencies Betray Humanity — and How to Reclaim Our Power (Part 2)
An Attempt to Hold industry Accountable and Rasie Awareness of Their Horrific Tactics
A lawsuit alleges that ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), engineered to be addictive like cigarettes, caused a teenager to develop serious health problems like fatty liver disease and Type 2 diabetes. UPFs are defined as ‘industrially produced edible substances’ that lack essential nutrients and are loaded with refined ingredients, added sugars and unhealthy fats like linoleic acid. These foods disrupt metabolism, gut health and cellular function, increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and chronic inflammation. The lawsuit claims that Big Food took a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook, using similar tactics to engineer addiction and aggressively market UPFs to children. Protect your health by avoiding ultraprocessed foods, learning to read food labels, cooking more often, making healthier food swaps and practicing mindful eating.” – Dr. Joseph Mercola, Feb 1, 2025
Context
Evidence of failure, corruption, betrayal, and harm by the industrialized food system and its “regulatory” agencies is curated here. It’s organized like this:
Corrupt System Protects Industry, Harms People
Ultra-processed “Food”: A Toxic, Addictive Cash Cow
More Contamination of Foods
Apeel
Industrial Agriculture / Factory Farming
Genetically Engineered / GMO “Foods”
Videos
Solutions: Regenerative Farming & More
In this substack, you’ll find evidence and resources regarding #2 above.
Definitions & Foundational Facts
Food for humans and animals is provided by the Earth. These have come to be called “whole foods” or “unprocessed foods.” For generations, whole foods have been preserved by traditional techniques such as canning or pickling.
Food and drink products that are industrially manufactured are called ultra-processed foods (UPFs). They are ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat formulations containing food additives and little or no whole foods. Food additives are not normally consumed as food, but are nonetheless added to serve “a technological purpose” in the manufacture, processing, packaging, transport, or storage of UPFs.
UPFs, junk food, fake food, fast food, energy drinks, and diet drinks have led to devastating outcomes in physical and mental health.
UPFs, Junk Food, Fake Food, Fast Food, Energy Drinks, Diet Drinks: Devastating Outcomes
Ultra-processed Foods Cause Anxiety, Depression, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Other Chronic Diseases, and Death — A large peer-reviewed meta-analysis of 14 studies published in the British Medical Journal examined the link between ultra-processed foods and adverse health effects. “Significant intake of ultra-processed foods results in increased risk of all-cause mortality… increased risk of heart disease-related death… increase in the risk of most types of cancer… increase in having sleep problems… increase in anxiety… increase in common mental disorders (including depression, OCD, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder), increases in risk for asthma, Crohn’s disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and so on.” More sources: 13-min video, BMJ research report, Lancet (2024) report, AboutLawsuits.com article, The Epoch Times article, Environmental International report, News Medical article
Ultra-processed Foods Harm Microbiome Health & Increase the Risk of Cancer — “French researchers reported that emulsifiers added to improve the texture and shelf-life of processed foods wreak havoc on the gut microbiome, leading to inflammation and possibly cancer. Their investigation included 92,000 adults enrolled in the French NutriNet-Santé study and followed for an average of 6.7 years… During the study period, 2,604 cancer cases occurred… Higher intakes of mono- and diglyceride emulsifiers were associated with a higher risk for all cancers… Carrageenan emulsifiers were associated with additional breast cancer risk.”
As Addictive as Tobacco, Alcohol, Cocaine: Industry Gets Children and Adults Addicted to Fake Food — Food corporations know that chemically engineered products provoke overeating and addiction and harm health, and they capitalize on it to drive sales. U.S. Right to Know link New York Post link The Guardian link Epoch Times link
“Junk Food ‘Brainwashes’ You so You’re Wired to Eat More” — “Did you know this food component rewires the brain, changes how you think and negatively affects memory and learning?… Researchers found participants who ate high-fat, high-sugar snacks experienced changes in neural encoded responses so they no longer preferred low-fat, low-sugar snacks and they subconsciously preferred a lot of fat and sugar. Data show bingeing on sugar for just six weeks can slow brain function, memory and learning. One study showed sugar affected the reward system in a “manner similar to that of drugs of abuse.” Eating junk food for one week can impair your appetite control; data also show the more sugar you eat, the lower your nutrient intake. Eliminating sugar is a quick and clear route to better health. Metabolic flexibility is a key to better health; it is also important to avoid industrial vegetable oils or seed oils, margarine, shortening and any fake butter and spreads. Instead, choose from a list of healthy fat foods that include olives, avocados and coconut oil.”
Some Chemcials in Packaging of Processed and Fast foods Cause Devastating, Transgenerational Effects to Fat Cells and are “Highly Correlated” with Obesity and Diabetes — Obesogens are defined as “EDCs that exert permanent and even transgenerational changes to fat cells… Research shows obesogens are highly correlated with obesity and diabetes.”They “interfere with normal endocrine regulation of metabolism, adipose tissue development and maintenance, appetite, weight and energy balance.” Research articles: here and here and here.
Kids Who Consume Energy Drinks Suffer “Alarming Health Risks” — “New research reveals alarming health risks like heart problems, mental distress, and risky behaviors in kids who consume caffeinated, sugar-laden energy drinks.”
Researchers Link Energy Drinks to Suicidal Thoughts in Children — “Energy drinks could pose a risk to young brains, said UK researchers.”
Diet Drinks Increase Risk of Heart Condition — “Drinking two liters or more per week of artificially sweetened beverages — the equivalent of a medium-sized fast-food diet soda a day — raised the risk of an irregular heartbeat by 20% when compared to people who drank none, a new study found.”
Industrially Processed Foods Lack Nutrients People Need in Their Food + are Processed & Packaged in Ways that Cause Chronic Disease + Neurologically Act “Like a Traditional Addictive Drug” — “If you are not consuming nutrient dense foods, and instead rely heavily on processed foods, you are most likely lacking in several nutrients.” [source] “Ultra-processed foods can accelerate aging and the decline of your body’s health, even if you generally eat healthy foods, say Italian researchers… It may be due more to the potentially harmful ways these foods are highly processed and packaged by industry than their poor nutritional content.” See also: Billions of People Have Inadequate Micronutrients, Study Estimates
Loophole Allows Manufacturers to Get Away with Not Listing Some Additives on Labels — “The long list of unfamiliar names on ingredient labels of processed foods is already a cause for concern. However, many people are unaware of another category of additives never listed on these labels. These ‘invisible’ additives are known as processing aids.”
Antibiotic and Contraceptive Drugs Found in Fast Food Lab Results — “According to a recently published lab report, food samples from McDonald’s and several other national food chains were found to have detectable levels of animal antibiotics, as well as animal contraceptives. Although the sample size in this particular study was small, it does highlight a much larger issue — the fact that all of these chemicals and drugs that go into our livestock might very well be ending up on our plates.” More Sources: Lab results link Study on additives in animal feed link
Ultra-processed Foods: Manufactured, Ready-to-Eat or Ready-to-Heat Formulations. These Industrially Manufactured Foods Have Additives, Contaminants, and a Highly Degraded Structure. They are Detrimental to Health.
Ultra-processed foods are industrially manufactured ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat formulations containing food additives and little or no whole foods, in contrast to processed foods, which are whole foods preserved by traditional techniques such as canning or pickling…. Processing induces significant changes to the food matrix, for which ultra-processed foods may affect health outcomes differently than unrefined whole foods with similar nutritional composition. Notably, the highly degraded physical structure of ultra-processed foods may affect cardiometabolic health… and the gut microbiota composition and function. Food additives and… contaminants produced during processing may also play a role in risk of cardiovascular disease. Key biological pathways include altered serum lipid concentrations, modified gut microbiota and host–microbiota interactions, obesity, inflammation, oxidative stress, dysglycemia, insulin resistance, and hypertension.” – Published in Advances in Nutrition journal, Sep 2021
Detail on the Composition & Processing of Ultra-Processed Foods
Ultra-processed food and drink products… are industrial formulations typically with five or more and usually many ingredients... Ingredients only found in ultra-processed products include substances not commonly used in culinary preparations, and additives whose purpose is to imitate sensory qualities of [unprocessed] foods… or to disguise undesirable sensory qualities of the final product. [Unprocessed] foods are a small proportion of or are even absent from ultra-processed products. Substances only found in ultra-processed products include some directly extracted from foods, such as casein, lactose, whey, and gluten, and some derived from further processing of food constituents, such as hydrogenated or interesterified oils, hydrolysed proteins, soy protein isolate, maltodextrin, invert sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Classes of additive only found in ultra-processed products include dyes and other colours, colour stabilisers, flavours, flavour enhancers, non-sugar sweeteners, and processing aids such as carbonating, firming, bulking and anti-bulking, de-foaming, anti-caking and glazing agents, emulsifiers, sequestrants and humectants. Several industrial processes with no domestic equivalents are used in the manufacture of ultra-processed products, such as extrusion and moulding, and pre-processing for frying. The main purpose of industrial ultra-processing is to create products that are ready to eat, to drink or to heat, liable to replace both unprocessed or minimally processed foods that are naturally ready to consume, such as fruits and nuts, milk and water, and freshly prepared… meals. Common attributes of ultra-processed products are hyper-palatability, sophisticated and attractive packaging, multi-media and other aggressive marketing to children and adolescents, health claims, high profitability, and branding and ownership by transnational corporations. Examples of typical ultra-processed products are: carbonated drinks; sweet or savoury packaged snacks; ice-cream, chocolate, candies (confectionery); mass-produced packaged breads and buns; margarines and spreads; cookies (biscuits), pastries, cakes, and cake mixes; breakfast ‘cereals’, ‘cereal’ and ‘energy’ bars; ‘energy’ drinks; milk drinks, ‘fruit’ yoghurts and ‘fruit’ drinks; cocoa drinks; meat and chicken extracts and ‘instant’ sauces; infant formulas, follow-on milks, other baby products; ‘health’ and ‘slimming’ products such as powdered or ‘fortified’ meal and dish substitutes; and many ready to heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes; poultry and fish ‘nuggets’ and ‘sticks’, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, and powdered and packaged ‘instant’ soups, noodles and desserts. – NOVA Food Classification
UPFs Have No Health Benefits. They Cause Chronic Diseases and Mental Health Issues.
High ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption is associated with an increased risk of a variety of chronic diseases and mental health disorders. At present, not a single study reported an association between UPF intake and a beneficial health outcome. – An Umbrella Review & Meta-Analyses of Observational Evidence, June 2024
Anxiety, Depression, Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, Cancers, and Premature Death
A study published in the British Medical Journal finds people who consume high amounts of ultra-processed foods have an increased risk of anxiety, depression, obesity, metabolic syndrome, certain cancers and premature death. The data come from more than 9 million people who participated in dozens of studies. – NPR
More on the Industrialized Food System & Solutions for Taking Our Power Back
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