We consume far too many chemicals in ultra-processed food than is good for our health, according to a review article in Nature Medicine. We are unaware of many of these chemicals because they can get into food not just as ingredients, but through packaging, processing, and transporting it.
The data the authors reviewed estimated that about 58 percent of all food consumed in the U.S. is ultra-processed.
“That’s a lot of unhealthy food,” says Jane Muncke, a scientist with the Food Packaging Forum Foundation in Zurich and an author of the paper.
This problem persists for many reasons. Chemicals help make food cheaper to manufacture and easier to store and transport. Governments have few regulations on synthetic chemicals used in food. And advertising can influence someone to purchase a packaged product than, say, an apple or a carrot.
The paper includes lots of sobering statistics about the chemicals in our ...
