As a personal trainer in London I travel around the capital a lot and see the sheer number of junkfood outlets on every High Street. In supermarkets I see whole aisles of ready-meals, crisps, biscuits, cakes, fizzy sugary drinks. Is it any wonder we are such an unhealthy nation?
Last June there was an episode of Panorama called Ultra-Processed Food – A Recipe for Ill-Health? Dr Kesar Sadhra, a GP at Manor Park Medical Centre in Slough was interviewed, and said, “The escalation of chronic ill-health in the UK is primarily related to the food we eat.” He went on to explain that over 25% of his patients were diabetic or pre-diabetic, and that an increasing number of his younger patients were presenting with certain cancers.
The documentary followed the fortunes of identical twins who were part of a trial to discover the health effects of consuming highly-processed foods. Over a period of two weeks, one twin ate unprocessed whole food, the other ate ultra-processed food (UPF). Each ate the same number of calories. Their bloods were tested before and after the trial. The twin who ate the ultra-processed food saw sharp increases in blood-lipid levels (a marker for cardio-vascular disease and stroke) and blood-sugar levels (a marker for type 2 diabetes).
Panorama went on to explore the links between artificial sweeteners found in ultra-processed foods and cancer. Aspartame, a leading artificial sweetener, is 200 times sweeter than sugar. Cancer researchers in Italy in 2006 found that aspartame induced cancers in rats and mice.
How nutritional research is funded was explored. Professor Erik Millstone of Sussex University explained the link between how research is funded and its findings. Non-commercial sources of funding produced more negative research findings in relation to highly-processed foods, whereas commercial sources of funding by the manufacturers of aspartame produced positive findings. Professor Millstone: “This is a very profound and dangerous bias.”
Tim Spector, Professor of Epidemiology at Kings College London, was interviewed, and said that high levels of consumption of ultra-processed foods led to increased risk of cancer, heart disease, strokes and dementia. “A future health time-bomb and we’re sleepwalking into it,” was his stark conclusion.
Ultra-processed foods are cheap, convenient to eat, have a longer shelf-life, are mass-produced on an industrial scale, are designed to be addictive, are nutritionally empty at best and positively harmful at worst. The fibre is removed, carcinogenic chemicals added, the chemical structure of fats are changed to the detriment of our health, and are high in sugar and salt.
The largest ever study of food-additives was conducted by Dr Mathilde Touvier of Sorbonne Paris Nord University. 174,000 people’s health and eating habits were tracked. Links between aspartame and cancer were found. Emulsifiers (glue to stick ultra-processed food products together for pleasing texture and appearance and shelf-life) were linked to breast cancer.
Since Brexit, the Committee on Toxicity at the Food Standards Agency have rejected many of the warnings of European health regulators regarding the chemicals in ultra-processed foods and the UK is no longer bound by EU regulations on food products. This is a big win for the multinational food companies.
It will come as no surprise to you that I advise my personal training clients to minimize their consumption of ultra-processed foods and eat mainly whole foods such as steak, chicken breasts, salmon fillets, natural Greek yoghurt, sweet potatoes, vegetables and fruit, and to drink water between meals.
(Dominic Londesborough is a personal trainer in London and an online nutrition coach)
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