What is UPF?

We’ve Come Too Far — Eat Less UPF

By The Shoulder Tap Dietitian

Industrial food processing once saved lives. Canning, freezing and refrigeration made nutritious food safe, transportable and available year-round. But the modern food system has gone beyond preservation into hyper-engineering. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) now dominate our diets — and they’re quietly rewriting human health.

UPFs are industrial formulations built from extracted or synthetic substances — starches, seed oils, sugars, isolates, flavourings, emulsifiers. They’re designed for convenience, profit and “can’t-stop” palatability — not nourishment¹. Many look like food but act like stimuli, disrupting appetite regulation and driving overeating².

In Australia, more than half of adults live with overweight or obesity, and almost half of daily calories now come from UPFs³. The evidence linking high UPF intake to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression and early death is overwhelming⁴⁻⁵. These foods are engineered to be eaten fast, absorbed fast and craved often — the hallmark of addiction biology⁶.

Meanwhile, the planet pays the bill. UPFs have a heavy carbon footprint, driving deforestation, soil degradation, water depletion, plastic pollution and waste⁷. Every step of the system — from monoculture farming to multi-layered packaging — erodes the sustainability of our food supply.

To be clear: some processing saves lives. Iodised salt, fortified bread, and shelf-stable milk prevent disease and reduce inequity. But the majority of UPFs do not nourish — they distract. Nutrients removed are replaced with token fortification, while marketing budgets worth billions sell the illusion of choice.

We’ve come a long way, but we’ve gone too far. The same industrial brilliance that once ended famine is now feeding lifestyle disease.

Here’s your gentle shoulder tap: be discerning. Choose fewer products designed to hijack your hunger and more foods satisfy and nourish. Cook when you can and know how to spot a healthy ready to eat or heat meal and snack. Read the back of the label with clarity. Demand better from brands and policymakers.

Because the further we drift from real food, the less control we have over our health, our environment, and our true freedom of choice.

Eat less UPF. Live long and well.

— The Shoulder Tap Dietitian

References

  1. Monteiro CA et al. Public Health Nutrition 2019;22(5):936-941.

  2. Small DM & DiFeliceantonio AG. Nat Rev Neurosci 2019;20:415-434.

  3. Machado PP et al. BMJ Open 2019;9:e029544.

  4. Srour B et al. BMJ 2019;365:l1949.

  5. Juul F et al. BMJ 2024;385:q1147.

  6. Gearhardt AN et al. Addiction 2023;118(3):537-546.

  7. Clark MA et al. Science 2022;376:870-877.