New evidence shows that ultra-processed foods may trigger addiction-like brain changes—especially in women—and could quietly undermine fertility and pregnancy health.
There are a lot of problematic statements in this essay, and a few foods on your list aren't even ultraprocessed by definition. A great writer on this topic is https://drjessicaknurick.substack.com/. What's really missing from the essay, however, is an examination of how your reflections don't interrogate the social determinants of health that inform these choices and the inequities that negate even the idea of a "choice." Ultraprocessed foods dominate food environments shaped by zoning and retail placement; agricultural (government) subsidies favoring corn, soy, wheat; corporate consolidation in food manufacturing; corporate marketing; labor precarity and time scarcity. When clinicians frame ultraprocessed food consumption as "individual failure" without naming these forces, they misattribute causality. This can be harmful, classist, and racist. Persons with lower income are a higher proportion Black, Indigenous, Latino, and rural, and rely more heavily on food deserts, higher density of fast-food outlets, and fewer full-service grocery stores, making ultraprocessed foods not a decision but a constraint. As physicians, when we fail to address equity, we reinforce stigma, obscure corporate and governmental responsibility, undermine patient trust, and weaken public-health interventions. In addition, many of the disease processes you name in this essay are reinforced by the plastics and EDCs in our food, which also contribute to inflammation, disrupt the gut microbiome, and affect metabolism.
There are a lot of problematic statements in this essay, and a few foods on your list aren't even ultraprocessed by definition. A great writer on this topic is https://drjessicaknurick.substack.com/. What's really missing from the essay, however, is an examination of how your reflections don't interrogate the social determinants of health that inform these choices and the inequities that negate even the idea of a "choice." Ultraprocessed foods dominate food environments shaped by zoning and retail placement; agricultural (government) subsidies favoring corn, soy, wheat; corporate consolidation in food manufacturing; corporate marketing; labor precarity and time scarcity. When clinicians frame ultraprocessed food consumption as "individual failure" without naming these forces, they misattribute causality. This can be harmful, classist, and racist. Persons with lower income are a higher proportion Black, Indigenous, Latino, and rural, and rely more heavily on food deserts, higher density of fast-food outlets, and fewer full-service grocery stores, making ultraprocessed foods not a decision but a constraint. As physicians, when we fail to address equity, we reinforce stigma, obscure corporate and governmental responsibility, undermine patient trust, and weaken public-health interventions. In addition, many of the disease processes you name in this essay are reinforced by the plastics and EDCs in our food, which also contribute to inflammation, disrupt the gut microbiome, and affect metabolism.
Fully agree