If you are not reducing your intake of UPF…

[maybein2022]

… with all the media attention on UPF at the moment and so much research coming out about it. Interested to know. If you’re NOT reducing your intake of it, is it because you’re not able to (finances/accessibility/time), because you don’t want to or don’t think it’s a problem, you and/or your kids are neurodivergent and a lot of ‘safe’ foods are UPF or other reasons.

YANBU: I am reducing mine/my family’s intake
YABU: I am not for reasons listed above (or other reasons)

A passing health fad followed by most of the world, except the US and the UK.

Except it's not followed by most of the world.

UPF's are everywhere. Have you ever seen those videos of Korean or Japanese convenience stores, for example? Even supermarkets on the continent are full of UPF foods and packets. The same in Australia too.

Well the smokers woulda said the same back in the day

🤦‍♀️

Well agree, that's crazy, a sedentary lifestyle is as dangerous as smoking apparently

Supermarkets across the world may now be full of them. But I don't think too many Koreans or Japanese eat UPF as 56% of their calories. And of course, there are complex reasons for that. Fewer women working full time, etc etc. But still.... I think there is a reason obesity is so high in the UK, US and Australia.

(anti)UPF is the latest MN fad isn't it?

I eat a lot of decent food so I just accept that life isn't perfect, I am not perfect, and my diet isn't perfect. But they are good enough.

You are right, there are other factors but my lifestyle is as active as it was 20 years ago, if not more so

Korea eats about half what we do.

I agree, but I don't think it's solely down to UPF.

It won’t be solely, but the obesity rates rising do track the introduction of UPFs very convincingly. That’s what they found in the Brazilian studies.

Well spotted. Lovely faux-science fudging there 😂

Oat milk's as good as milk milk, factory-created = very bad.

Here are the ingredients of Alpro oat milk:
Oat base (96.6%) (Water, Oat (9.8%)), Soluble corn fibre, Sunflower oil, Calcium (Tri-calcium phosphate), Sea salt, Stabiliser (Gellan gum), Vitamins B2, B12, D2.

Ingredients of milk milk:
Milk.

”Regular consumption of meat products – such as sausages – and sugary drinks make it more likely that someone will get those diseases.”

See how they put MEAT AND SUGAR in the same category? They're not the same category, are they. Well, not unless the only thing you eat is gammon cooked in Coke.

You could just as easily say "Regular consumption of water - flat or fizzy - and heroin makes it more likely that someone will get diseases."

Also, have you noticed that "meat" is usually followed by "such as sausages and bacon"? That's because both are processed (even traditionally) using ingredients that might be harmful if taken to excess over a long period, and are very fatty if you fry them. Basic raw meat doesn't contain anything odd (in the UK/EU; some US meat does).

UPF's have been around since the eighties - as have lots of other things that have a negative impact on people's health. Things like more working parents, longer working hours, the increased use of cars, the fact that people do less exercise etc.

Saying "it's all down to UPF's" is too simplistic and ignores all the other negative changes in the society in the last forty odd years.

But society as a whole has become much less active. It's not about individual people, it's about entire countries.

UPF's have been around since the eighties - as have lots of other things that have a negative impact on people's health.

Ooh Findus crispy pancakes...😍Misses point of thread.

I will say it again, obesity is high because manufacturing processes evolved very rapidly mass producing cheap food by making basic ingredients into slurry’s which can be manipulated to make any shape, taste any way, look like anything you want, are cheap, affordable and convenient

you don’t get this in rural countries which have poor infrastructure because the food cannot easily be transported there

The huge industrial machinery put landowners and farmers, pickers, factory workers, shop workers etc out of work. They all went to work with the machines or driving the goods around instead of the jobs they used to do which were far more physical.

They go together

I've just been reading on Sky News about the microplastics that have apparently found their way into all of our food and water (and air), thereby significantly increasing the risk of death from stroke and heart attack.

Somehow I think my tofu habit is going to be the least of my problems in terms of living a long and healthy life.

I have come across a lot of publicity and information on UPFs and I have not gone looking for it.

I have been a bit more aware when I’ve been buying food and trying to make an effort to cook more and add fresh veg to meals for example.

I watched a feature on This Morning some time ago (Holly was on it) and the ‘expert’ said, if you eat one piece of bread every day, take it down to one piece once a month 😐. I was horrified as I love bread and generally eat it every day. Anyway I have tried to cut down my bread intake as it doesn’t always agree with me and I think it’s a good thing for my health.

It makes sense to eat more fresh food and my teen dc would live on takeaways if they could so eating less processed food at home will definitely help them.

producing cheap food by making basic ingredients into slurry’s which can be manipulated to make any shape, taste any way, look like anything you want, are cheap, affordable and convenient

you don’t get this in rural countries which have poor infrastructure

Let me introduce you to dhal 😂

😂
Has anyone invented Dhal Dinosaurs and Dhal Twizzlers yet?

Well spotted. Lovely faux-science fudging there 😂

@Garlicking You know those bunches of perfect organic green beans that come in from Kenya in the (UK) winter? A few years back some CO2-conscious people said, er, well, maybe they are organic but they're being flown in by air, so we're trading one form of environmental damage for another. So the CO2 people and the organic people sat down and decided that these beans could be sold as organic, but only if they were also Fairtrade certified. Now there are lots of political arguments that can be made for this, but it's nonsense as science.

Mmm fudge.

So what's the answer then? A bit of everything? Less upf, less junk food, more exercise, more active travel, fewer cars etc

@ColleenDonaghy

Is it proven that UPFs cause an increase in cancer?

I'm not saying that it won't ultimately be proven to be true, but I'm sceptical that it has already been proven.

No, you are right it hasn't. There is a growing body of evidence that it does and it is still early days in this area. Several studies have shown a link between higher rates of cancer and UPF. I am sure manufacturers who supply UPFs aren't happy about this being exposed.

Having lived through many health risks that later become proven (usually after rumbling on for several years), I choose to avoid these. I do understand that some people may prefer to wait until it is categorically proven to be the case.

Is it just "UPFs" though? Surely it's particular ingredients or processes - nitrates in processed meat being an obvious example that does have evidence showing we should avoid.

Just saying "UPFs increase the risk of cancer" is very very vague indeed and I'm sceptical about the evidence