Pen Hanley's Blog

Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken (Cornerstone Press, 2023)

Definitions of Tragedy

When I mentioned in my last blog that everyone inevitably suffers tragedy, that’s not quite correct – some people do escape it – because tragedy refers to untimely death. The death of parents, even though it might feel tragic to their children, is not a tragedy (unless those children were really young) because it’s in the natural order of things.

But if the manufacturers of fast food and now of almost all food available in supermarkets continue having their way (making ever-expanding profits from addicting us to their ultra-processed food) we’ll all go to untimely deaths in the not so distant future due to our ever-expanding waistlines and list of diseases.

Over the past few generations we’ve started eating substances constructed from modified starches, invert sugars, hydrolised protein isolates and seed oils that have been refined, bleached, deodorised and hydrogenated. These calories have been assembled into concoctions using synthetic emulsifiers, low-calorie sweeteners, stabilising gums, humectants, carbonating agents, bulking agents and more. And it’s making us sick at rates that our health systems can’t cope with. It might be a slower tragedy than we usually think of as tragedy but in terms of people’s happiness and longevity, their quality of life and fulfilment of their unique potential, it is tragic.

These people are not our friends

Chris van Tullekin’s book is mandatory reading, giving the public the information it needs to make informed decisions about what to eat to prevent diseases like diabetes 2, obesity and heart failure. Continue Reading Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken (Cornerstone Press, 2023)…