It's official: Ultra-processed foods are harmful and these are the next steps we must take

The evidence is clear on ultra-processed foods' harmful role in our diets — it's time we made manufacturers shape up or pay, writes Catherine Conlon

In one of the research reviews, Dr Carlos Monteiro identified over 100 studies linking ultra-processed foods to diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, kidney, and inflammatory bowel disease.

This week in a series of three review papers published in The Lancet, public health experts across the globe have called on governments to take on the challenge of ultra-processed food consumption that is underpinning a global epidemic of obesity and chronic diseases.

The papers gather the evidence on the links between ultra-processed foods and poor health, while outlining the policy changes that are needed to reverse a growing reliance on these foods that now comprise up to half of the national diet and even more in both the US and Britain.