Beware the mix of food and fear – the truth about ultra-processed foods is still emerging | Amelia Tait

Research on UPFs should be a wake-up call - but if people miss out on nutrients in a quest to avoid them, is it really helping?

If you consumed a lot of news last year, you'd be forgiven for thinking that strawberry yoghurt wants to murder you. Since last spring, a new obsession has spread across Britain: have you heard? Don't you know? UPF is our new food enemy. What is UPF? It is ultra-processed food. What is ultra-processed food? It can include cereal and sausages and fruit-flavoured yoghurts and instant soup. How exactly can I determine if something is ultra-murderous? Anecdotally, my friends don't seem to know the definition of UPF - but they do know they should be afraid of it.

Another person who, by his own admission, hasn't quite mastered the definition is Chris van Tulleken, the infectious diseases doctor who wrote the bestselling book Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn't Food ... and Why Can't We Stop? At the beginning of his book, he forgoes a long formal scientific definition" of UPF, instead arguing it can be boiled down to this: If it's wrapped in plastic and has at least one ingredient that you wouldn't usually find in a standard home kitchen, it's UPF."