AMA with Dr Chris van Tulleken, expert on Ultra-Processed Food and award-winning broadcaster

[NicolaDMumsnet]

Hi everyone,

We’re pleased to announce that award-winning broadcaster, author and practicing NHS doctor Chris van Tulleken will be doing an AMA this evening. Following his BBC One documentary ‘What Are We Feeding Our Kids?’ and the chart-topping podcast ‘A Thorough Examination – Addicted to Food’, Chris has become the UK’s go-to expert on Ultra-Processed Food (UPF). In his most recent book ‘Ultra-Processed People’ Chris marshals the latest evidence to reveal what UPF is really doing to our bodies and the planet.

Ultra-Processed People
‘Drawing on his own experiment of eating an 80% UPF diet for one month, Chris explores the invention of UPF and its impact on our health and weight – from altering metabolism and appetite, to an increased risk of serious health problems like cardiovascular disease and dementia. He shows that almost all our staple foods are ultra- processed – bread, cereal, biscuits, desserts, dairy products and condiments; explains why exercise and willpower cannot prevent obesity and ill health due to UPF; and provides solutions for individuals, policy makers and the food industry.’

Please post your questions below. Chris will be answering questions this evening.

As always, please remember our guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered, and please keep it civil.

Thanks,
MNHQ

Hi Chris ,
Thank you so much for writing this book. I particularly like the Pringles chapter!
My 15 year old son has asd and arfid. His diet is limited to peanut butter, tuna on jackets, fish fingers and processed cereal. What do you suggest to broaden his repertoire?
Thank you for answering.

Hi Dr Chris
I read your book a few weeks ago now and I believe it's had an effect on me similar to Allan Carrs easy way to stop smoking!
My diet has improved immensely, so thank you!

its all so interesting.

i eat a huge amount, and always have done; I’m not skinny but given what I eat it seems surprising. BUT at no point in my life have I ever eaten much UPF at all. Butter, cheese, shop crackers every now and again - not much more than that.

So my question is: which kinds of UPF are most problematic for health, and is this similar for all age groups? And are things like rice/corn cakes (which don’t involve weird ingredients but do involve weird processes) also problematic - and if so why? (I suspect they are, mainly because if I do ever have them, I keep eating them - but how/why?)

I read your book and have read Tim Spector's books on food and started to reduce U/PF food about two months ago, I do feel much less bloated and generally healthier. However I wonder if it's going to make people worry about the minutia of things like the odd stock cube or olive with preservatives,
Do you think this makes a huge difference when the majority of a persons diet is homecooked from real ingrediants? Also the confusion between UPF and processed, cheese, butter and milk are processed but not UPF so not really a concern as far as I know. Does processed food like this make any difference?

For children with milk allergies who need milk alternatives, is it better to make your own oat milk or better to give them the toddler oat milk which is fortified?

Just reading Ultra Processed People. Really like that you cite the research, including caveats.

I’ve been telling my 11 year old what I’m learning but it would be so good to see a book for kids or TV show. Any plans?

Hi Dr Chris,

Love your podcasts, fascinating!

I have a challenge for you!

Desert Island Discs style, but no food on the island, no fish in the sea 🙁.

Which 8 food items, which book (on nutrition but not your own) and which luxury item (to benefit your health) would you take with you and why? Thanks 🙂

The OP includes dairy products in the list of foods that are UP. Could you explain this. I understand that dairy Lea and milkshakes are bad but are you saying we should avoid full fat milk, Greek yoghurt and mature cheddar?

@WheelyMom i have one suggestion for you. I make a simple pasta sauce from scratch and serve with pasta and cheese.
The sauce is made by tipping a couple of tins of tomatoes onto a big pan. Then add a bag of frozen onions, frozen peppers, frozen mushrooms and garlic. All are frozen in bags so simply a case of snipping, tipping and stirring. Could you manage that?

Is citric acid or absorbic acid in foods a bad thing and does it make it UPF?

I work in policy - specifically healthcare regulation - but would be really keen to move into a policy job related to food policy, and especially around health / UPF related. Any organisations that you can point me towards who might have roles in this area?

Where can I watch the full 'What are we feeding our kids?' programme?

Are cornflakes a UPF? I am vegetarian and they give me lots of b vitamins in an alternative way to tablets (and I also quite enjoy them..!)

Only if there’s time to answer…

What happens to cholesterol levels on an ultra processed food free diet?

Would it be healthier to avoid, or beneficial to include, for example, cream, butter, coconut oil?

Thanks!

Dr Chris, THANK YOU so much for all the work you're doing to educate all of us. Your book was a massive wake up call for me. Like some of the previous posters have said though, I am appalled at the Ultra processed school dinner options for my 3 primary school children.

I just don't have the capacity or time to make lunches for them every day. But feel like I'm massively letting them down sending them to school to eat ultra processed crap.

Is there anything we can do to raise awareness with the people who make the decisions about school lunches? (Again I'm aware Jamie Oliver tried in the past). There must be something we can do to initiate change in this area?

Thank you so much again.

Does malted barley extract make simple cereals UPF? Thanks

Could you give me a couple of days sample menus please?
Preferably vegetarian as we are a vegetarian household.
We definitely could improve our diet despite vegetarianism.

Hi, thank you for the suggestion, I appreciate it! I could probably attempt this on a high energy, low pain day. Our freezer is quite small and my husband has a tendency to fill it with ice-cream and bread so I’ll need to start by asking him to give up a drawer! I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I only cook vegan food, so the cheese for myself would be ‘vegan’ cheese, which I strongly suspect is UPF!

Since information about the dangers of UPFs have become more mainstream, I've noticed a large increase in people trying to come up with binary rules on what is UPF and what isn't - down to rejecting tins of beans and lentils because they feel that calcium chloride makes the beans UPF, or products made with flours containing the required fortification agents. Do you feel that there's an element of perfect being the enemy of good (or sustainable) with how to approach UPF in the modern food environment?

And if I could ask another question, do you think it's possible to neatly categorise all foods into UPFs or non-UPF? An apple and Pringles are pretty obvious, but things like simple breakfast cereals or some plant based milks don't seem to categorise so easily. My personal approach is to consider how I feel and what effect the food is having on me and what amount of my diet it's taking up - but would appreciate your insight.

Hi Chris,

We loved Operation Ouch!

Is "clean" lab grown meat considered UPF?

Thanks very much.

Do you think we can really do much about the damaging effects of UPF absent government regulation of the food industry’s? I have an 18 month old. Until she was a year she had no UPFs at all. She goes to a nursery with a chef who makes all the main meals and for the most part it’s great. But she’s had baked beans, crackers, toast, scones, birthday cake, sausages. And when we go out people with similar aged babies are having baby puffs, breadsticks, biscuits sometimes even ice cream. It’s only a matter of time before she’s demanding these things and the reality is all o can do is try and ensure the core of her diet is good. Once she goes to school though I think all bets are off given we are surrounded by processed food!

I'm struggling to find any non upf vegan yogurt, so have started using silken tofu blended with frozen raspberries. Does the nigari in the tofu make it upf please?

Also, do you really think UPFs are not food?! If so its a grim state of affairs we find ourselves in!

Hi Chris
I’m currently reading your book. I gave up upf’s and sugar 2 years ago having read Dr Andrew Jenkinsons book ‘why we eat too much’.

On page 162 of your book (kindle on iPad version) there is a paragraph on wanting to exam brain messages as people give up upf. Is this a study you are hoping to follow through on? I found it took around 9 - 12 months before images of my trigger foods stopped randomly appearing in my head. Much longer for me to not salivate when I see adverts for them and it still does a bit but the urge to jump in the car and go to the shops to get them has gone.

thank you for writing the book as it is very interesting seeing the follow up from the tv documentary.