Ultra-processed Food & Additives Archives

E261: Here’s what you don’t know about food safety

January 23, 2025

For many years in talks that I gave, I showed a slide with an ingredient list from a food most people know. Just to see if the audience could guess what the food was, based on what it was made of. It was very hard for people to guess. A few people might come close, but very few people would guess. And it was pretty hard because the food contained 56 ingredients. This is in one food. And the ingredient list had chemical names, flavorings, stabilizers, and heaven knows what else. But 56 things in one, just one food in the food supply. Pretty amazing to think what kind of things we’re bombarded with in foods we eat in our everyday lives. So, one key question is do we know what all this stuff does to us, either individually or in combination? So, how does ingredient 42 interact with ingredient 17? Even if we happen to know what they do individually, which we may not. And, who’s looking out for the health of the population, and who has regulatory control over these things? Today we’re joined by the author of a new article on this topic published in the American Journal of Public Health. Jennifer Pomeranz is an attorney and is Associate Professor of Public Health Policy and Management in the School of Global Public Health at New York University. The food, by the way, was a chocolate fudge Pop Tart.

E256: ATNI – driving market change towards nutrition

November 21, 2024

Now more than ever, it’s important to challenge the world’s food and beverage manufacturers to address nutrition issues like obesity and undernutrition. Today, we’re going to discuss the 2024 Global Access to Nutrition Index, a very important ranking system that evaluates companies on their nutrition related policies, product portfolios, marketing practices, and engagement with stakeholders. The index is an accountability strategy produced by ATNI, the Access to Nutrition Initiative, a global nonprofit foundation seeking to drive market change for nutrition. Our guest today is Greg Garrett, Executive Director of ATNI.

E208: Improve Your Microbiome – Improve Your Health

July 6, 2023

If you want to improve your digestion, your immune system, and your overall health, one might begin with a focus on a healthy gut microbiome. Today we’re talking with Stanford University professor of microbiology and immunology Dr. Justin Sonnenburg, co-author of the book entitled, “The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, your Mood, and Your Long-Term Health.” He and his wife, research scientists Dr. Erica Sonnenburg, argue that our typical modern diet has caused the microbial diversity or intestine to shrink substantially. Turns out that’s a big problem.

Related podcasts: Diet & Nutrition | Microbiome | Ultra-processed Food & Additives |

E204: The troubling unknowns of non-caloric sweeteners

May 4, 2023

As a society, we are eating and drinking low-calorie sweeteners more and more. Researchers are working to understand the long-term impact of such sweeteners for adults and, of course, for children. This interview is part of a series on the impact of sweeteners. Our guest today is Dr. Allison Sylvetsky, Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at the George Washington University – Milken Institute School of Public Health.

E170: Why the US Must Reduce Sodium Intake: It’s Costing Lives

June 10, 2022

Today, we’re going to talk salt with Dr. Michael Jacobson, former president and co-founder of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Dr. Jacobson is one of the authors of an important article published recently in the journal Hypertension. The article comes to a startling conclusion that delays in implementing voluntary sodium reduction targets by the food and restaurant industry may result in nearly 265,000 preventable deaths between 2017 and 2031.

E159: Ultra-processed Foods Have Addiction Impact on our Bodies

March 17, 2022

Much has been written and said about ultra-processed foods, first in scientific circles and now more broadly in the media. This concept is relatively new, but what is even newer in this discussion is how such foods figure into the issue of food and addiction. Our guest, Dr. Ashley Gearhardt is doing pioneering work on this. So, we eat a lot of these foods. A paper published several months ago, found that as much as 80% of all calories consumed in the US and in Canada come from such foods. Such diets are high in added sugar, in fat and saturated fat and low in fiber and key vitamins and minerals. We’ve recorded earlier podcasts on ultra-processed foods, most notably with Dr. Carlos Monteiro, who created the term. But now let’s talk addiction. Ashley Gearhardt is Associate Professor in the department of psychology at the University of Michigan and as a leading expert on the issue of food and addiction.

Related podcasts: Addiction & Food | Food Safety & Food Defense | Ultra-processed Food & Additives |

E162: Ultra-processed Foods Need a Warning Label to Protect Consumers

March 3, 2022

In today’s podcast, we’re talking about ultra-processed foods. Our guest today is Trish Cotter from the global public health organization Vital Strategies. She’s the author of a new commentary published in the BMJ Global Health calling for warning labels on ultra-processed foods.

E150: What Food Policy Advocates Can Learn from Tobacco Industry Strategies

December 2, 2021

This is “The Leading Voices in Food” podcast but today we’re speaking with a leading voice in tobacco control. “How come,” you might ask, “why?” So I believe for many years that the parallels between the tobacco industry and food industry practices are nothing short of stunning, and that our field would do very well to learn lessons learned from the pioneers in the tobacco wars. Our guest today is Dr. Kenneth Warner, Distinguished Emeritus Professor and former Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. Ken’s research focuses on the economic and policy aspects of tobacco and health.

E144: New York’s Successful Model for Reducing Sugar and Salt

October 4, 2021

How much sugar and salt do you and others eat each day? What are reasonable and healthy amounts? And when does it become too much? It’s a serious question, given that diet is a key driver for health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. The National Salt and Sugar Reduction Initiative, the NSSRI, is working to make it easier for people to make healthy choices. Today’s guest is Andrea Sharkey, a project manager in the Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, an agency long known for its innovation in this area. Andrea coordinates the National Salt and Sugar Reduction Initiative and is going to explain why education, consumer behavior changes, and policies can help our community stay healthy.

E141: Gary Sacks on Curbing Corporate Control of the Food System

September 22, 2021

Think for a moment about how much influence the food and agriculture industries have over food policy. Too much influence, too little influence, maybe? People look at this in very different ways. One thoughtful voice in this discussion is today’s guest, Gary Sacks, a person who has written extensively on corporate influence on food policy. He has considered corporate control of the food system, running the gamut from global brand consolidation to lobbying and direct involvement in policymaking to actual litigation against country governments, seeking to curb corporate influence. He asks a very key question, is it pastime to question the outsize role of food corporations in our lives? Dr. Gary Sacks is associate professor at the Global Obesity Center at Deakin University in Australia. His research focuses on policies for improving population diets and preventing obesity and he has coauthored international food policy reports, such as the Lancet Commission on Obesity and several reports for the world health organization on obesity prevention.

Podcast Topic: Ultra-processed Food & Additives

The Leading Voices in Food

Podcast Topic: Ultra-processed Food & Additives

E261: Here’s what you don’t know about food safety

E256: ATNI – driving market change towards nutrition

E208: Improve Your Microbiome – Improve Your Health

E204: The troubling unknowns of non-caloric sweeteners

E170: Why the US Must Reduce Sodium Intake: It’s Costing Lives

E159: Ultra-processed Foods Have Addiction Impact on our Bodies

E162: Ultra-processed Foods Need a Warning Label to Protect Consumers

E150: What Food Policy Advocates Can Learn from Tobacco Industry Strategies

E144: New York’s Successful Model for Reducing Sugar and Salt

E141: Gary Sacks on Curbing Corporate Control of the Food System