AIBU to think some weekly shops contain far too many snacks?and this is not grocery shopping!?

Why do some people get so angry about the thought of junk food being banned? We already have restrictions on what can and cannot be sold as food.

Ok well research shows a strong link between eating ultra-processed foods and a higher risk of both cancer and heart disease which are massive drains on the NHS so 🤷‍♀️

Speaking of being rather narcissistic, it is great to meet the only person on the planet who has ever had experience of chronic, painful, longterm, and incurable illness!

Leaving aside my own personal experience with such - which triggered my interest in the role of diet in improving the gut microbiome, and hence enhancing the function of the immune system, and increasing serotonin, the vast bulk of which is manufactured by the gut microbiome, and other helpful healing and uplifting neurotransmitters and other substances like BDNF - I lost my first friend to brain cancer when in primary school.

She was not the last to die too young. I have probably attended more funerals of friends than you have had hot (healthy) dinners.

My point was that getting fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and all the consequences of that, etc etc, does not enhance one's life experience at any time - and it is obviously not helpful for anyone suffering any from any form of chronic illness to pile insult onto injury, healthwise.

The extreme rage in your response, and the energy behind the insults you felt the need to hurl at me for pointing that fact out, is another factor that is not helpful. Being on the receiving end of that is also not helpful to me.

As you seem committed to ignoring health advice - it's not mine, or "my diet", it is the health advice of the WHO, the CDC, Harvard Medical School, you name it - then you will continue to reap what you sow, I guess.

Shove your diet down your own throat, not other peoples.

That's lovely.

And nothing helps some types of chronic illness regardless, or other illnesses/diseases. The suffering is suffering is suffering is suffering.

The level of that suffering vs if they had other illnesses on top, would have to measured on a case by case basis.

Are you unaware that there are many illnesses that will kill the patient before a bad diet does, too?

Imagine perhaps telling a terminally ill cancer patient, just as an example, who has been given a timeline: 'oh well, having a shit diet and eating what you want to eat now in what time you have left is REALLY going to help, isn't it?'. I imagine they'll eat what the fuck they want, and quite rightly so.

Live your life, other people will live theirs. People who concern themselves with other peoples personal choices are a fucking bore. And tend to be rather narcissistic. Shove your diet down your own throat, not other peoples.

UPFs are often food that are moreish, so one would be more likely to overindulge.

And obesity isn’t just caused by eating UPFs…

It shouldn’t be as obesity is one of the biggest drains on the NHS but UPFs don’t just cause obesity…

Ultra-processed foods are full of fat and sugar in proportions designed to make you eat more of them and crave them; they are modified and moulded and go through multiple industrial processes that cannot be replicated in a home kitchen. They are full of man-made ingedients unavailable to the home cook - like emulsifiers, preservatives, antioxidants, artificial colours and flavours.

Fast food is mostly "junk food", but may or may not be UPF. Most supermarket "food" is UPF, with a limited amount fresh or frozen, and much of it is processed. Processed food - a tin of baked beans eg - is not the problem. It's the ultra-processing, all the ingredients that if you read a packet whose names make no sense and the list goes on and on and on, that indicates UPF.

If we're going to go down that road...there's a very long list of things our taxes fund for that I am disgruntled with. Obesity is further down the list than most.

The home made junk would probably be lower in additives.

Even if people did start making it illegally it'd be better that having it for sale in supermarkets ready to eat. Having to put the time and effort in to make it would dissuade people from eating so much of it.

I do agree overall but it just wouldn't work. People would start making it illegally for one. And then there's people like me who have one day off every 3 weeks or so(I low carb/high protein most of the time as I am always at the gym) who deserve some 'junk' now and again. Noting inverted commas, is there a full definition of junk food? I know there is of UPFs. But really what is 'junk'? Is UPF junk but other things junk too? Sugar and fat aren't UPFs on their own nor are all foods heavy in them. Lard isn't a UPF but wouldn't be banned if we banned UPFs. Lard isn't even a junk food on its own IMO (although I am vegan so obviously do wish it didn't even exist).

Why can't we just ban junk food? Can anyone give me one good reason why not?

And it’s the normalisation of treat foods as staple foods.
I see lunchboxes for kids that are literally just crisps, sweets, processed cakes, string “cheese” or processed ham and crackers.
No veg, fruit, salad or even a slightly less processed sandwich.

When their entire diet is UP heavy(when you start honestly looking you realise how UP heavy many diets are)and then treats are even higher UP foods it is the business of others as our taxes fund the NHS.

But they also sell unprocessed food, people just buy proportionably less.

As mentioned before even food is UPF now wasn’t so much previously. Chocolate and bread being obvious ones. Emulsifiers are relatively new, palm oil in everything in new. That’s before the E numbers.

This simple little article spells it out.

The Lancet report is great news in that there are concrete steps you can take to reduce dementia risk.

It really is about the individual working on what is in their control.

Targeting 14 lifestyle factors may prevent up to 45% of dementia cases | Cognitive Vitality | Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation

That is not what all the research I have read says.

You could google "the Lancet" and "dementia" to see their findings on the risk factors, or do your own reading if you want.

Alzheimer's is now referred to by many in the field as "type 3 diabetes", and linked to the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes as a diet and lifestyle induced disease. But by all means dig your own grave with your fork or fingers.

You didn't read your own link.

From it :
It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean that individual cases can be attributed to either ‘lifestyle’ or ‘non-lifestyle’ factors.

They look at global statistics, not actual traceable causation. From those statistics, they extrapolate around health and environmental factors associated with the disease. None of the activities or environmental factors cause the disease, as far as they know, just potentially increase the risk. And of the factors listed just three - obesity, smoking and excess drinking - are individual life choices. These combined increase risk by potentially 4%. Obesity taken alone potentially increases risk by 1%. The absolute biggest risk factor by far is age.

Yes, it is. Substantially so, for the most part; particularly vascular dementia. Even if you have the APOE gene variants linked to Alzheimer's there is a marked reduction in risk with focus on diet and lifestyle factors under your control.

This was shown in the Lancet years ago, and updated in 2024 to 14 risk factors involving diet and lifestyle. It's common knowledge now.

Addressing 14 health and lifestyle factors could prevent nearly half of global dementia cases - Alzheimer's Research UK

Many dementia researchers think it is more like 60% and some say 90% preventable through diet and lifestyle, though there are lifestyle factors (pollution etc) beyond people's control.

Dementia isn't a lifestyle related disease.

Nothing helps improve a serious chronic illness like courting another half dozen of them through downplaying the role of UPFs and diet in general creating serious chronic illnesses that are lifestyle related - like fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, dementia, etc etc etc etc.

I don't live in the UK, in fact I live in a country where the healthy life expectancy is apparently a decade higher. There is no 'greasy spoon' up the road from me.

Incidentally two of my grandparents did smoke and lived until their mid 80s, my GM was a chain smoker. Not that I am advocating smoking.

@timtamsarebetterthanpenguins , It's more like saying that a bookshop stocks a lot of magazines and trashy novels but not much classical fiction.