Ultra-Processed People
Ultra-Processed People is Chris van Tulleken's 2023 investigation into the category of food known as ultra-processed, a class of industrially manufactured products that, according to the NOVA classification developed by Brazilian researchers, now makes up roughly half the calories consumed in the United Kingdom and the United States. Van Tulleken, a London infectious-diseases doctor, spends a month eating a diet that is eighty percent ultra-processed under medical and psychological monitoring, and uses the experience as a frame for a wider account of the science. He interviews former industry executives, nutrition researchers, and journalists, and traces the long shadow of figures such as the Brazilian epidemiologist Carlos Monteiro and the American food-reform advocates of the late twentieth century. The book argues, carefully and with caveats, that ultra-processed food is not simply unhealthy in the familiar way that doughnuts and chips are unhealthy. It is, he proposes, a distinct exposure that warrants public-health treatment.
What you might want to know about Ultra-Processed People
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
British infectious diseases doctor Chris van Tulleken puts himself on a month-long eighty-percent ultra-processed food diet under research scans, gaining weight and losing sleep on Pringles, frozen lasagna, and Coco Pops.
He is a British infectious diseases doctor and BBC presenter who turned his attention to the food system after a self-experiment eating only ultra-processed food for a month.
It is heavily cited and draws on the NOVA classification system developed by Brazilian researcher Carlos Monteiro. Some nutrition experts argue the ultra-processed category is too broad.
Ultra-Processed People was written by Chris van Tulleken, published in 2023 by Penguin Books.
Ultra-Processed People is 416 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Ultra-Processed People takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
Ultra-Processed People is a standalone novel by Chris van Tulleken, not part of a series.
Ultra-Processed People is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
