Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken

The recent New York Times bestseller, ULTRA-PROCESSED PEOPLE is written by Chris van Tulleken, a BBC television and radio broadcaster whose relevant credentials include a medical degree from Oxford, a PhD in molecular virology, and a position as an associate professor at University College London. In addition, van Tulleken is willing to experiment with his own body, allowing ultra-processed foods to account for 80% of his daily calorie intake for a month. Afterwards, he gained weight, slept poorly, and became more anxious while noting “ironically, food often felt like the solution rather than the problem.” Van Tulleken splits the text into five sections, with background on what we are eating, ideas about control and addiction, physical and psychological reactions to these products, as well as associated costs and possible solutions. With approximately 10 percent devoted to notes, this text is full of facts about nutrition, physiology, and ingredients – many are disturbing. They may not be enough to change strong habits or combat the addictive qualities of these processed items, but they will definitely have readers looking at food labels in a new way. ULTRA-PROCESSED PEOPLE, about “The Science Behind the Food That Isn't Food” (more like “an industrially produced edible substance,” per one scientist van Tulleken interviewed), was a Next Big Idea Club selection for June 2023. For interested readers, related texts include 2015’s The Dorito Effect, 2013’s Grain Brain (updated in 2018) and 2021’s Metabolical.