UPFs should also be heavily taxed due to impact on health and mortality, says scientist who coined term

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are displacing healthy diets “all over the world” despite growing evidence of the risks they pose and should be sold with tobacco-style warnings, according to the nutritional scientist who first coined the term.

Prof Carlos Monteiro of the University of São Paulo will highlight the increasing danger UPFs present to children and adults at the International Congress on Obesity this week.

“UPFs are increasing their share in and domination of global diets, despite the risk they represent to health in terms of increasing the risk of multiple chronic diseases,” Monteiro told the Guardian ahead of the conference in São Paulo.

  • dudeami0
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    95 months ago

    I think the point would to be make them like cigarette warning labels. At the moment the text can be hidden on a bottle or can in tiny text. It needs to be a big ugly white box with a black border and large text that gets people’s attention.

    • @[email protected]
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      35 months ago

      And what good did it do for cigarettes? It’s not like you’re going to look at the pack and go “oh shit, it’s bad for me?”

      Everyone I know who gave up smoking recently, did so purely for cost reasons and took up vaping instead.