Doctor says one food 'worse than smoking' and biggest cause of 'early death'

A doctor has shared on a popular podcast that one food could be more lethal than smoking. Doctor Chris van Tulleken shared his insights on the Diary of a CEO podcast with host Steven Bartlett - and we're all probably consuming it.

The doctor, who is a specialist in infectious diseases and a science presenter for the , has a twin brother, Dr Xand van Tulleken who is also a prominent face for the BBC appearing on the likes of BBC Morning Live.

Talking about his book Ultra-Processed People, Dr Chris explained: “For a very long time, we have been incredibly confused about what to eat.

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“We’ve called the foods that harm us junk food and processed food - high fat, salt and sugar food. We’ve not had a way of labeling food even as a pandemic of disease taken over the ."

This is not just the case for poor countries across the globe, but the UK too. The doctor said: "This is particularly true in low income countries and particularly true with low income people living in the UK.

"So poor diet, which means a diet high and ultra processed foods (UPF), has overtaken tobacco as a leading cause of early death on planet Earth for humans, for the animals we farm and for wild animals."

This is "because ultra-processed food is produced by food system that is the leading cause of loss of biodiversity and the second-leading cause of carbon emissions and the leading cause of plastic pollution.

"So about 12 years ago, the definition was developed to describe a western industrial American diet. And it was done by a team in Brazil, and much of the best work on this stuff has been done by teams in Central and South America."

He said that this is because in countries and places like Mexico, Columbia and Brazil, "obesity was essentially unheard of and within a decade, it went to being the dominant public health problem". Once upon a time you knew nobody who was obese, now just 10 years later, "everyone would know someone who had an amputation for type two diabetes."

But what's changed? The doctor explained: "The only thing that has changed was the influx of, broadly an American diet of industrial processed foods. The definition was invented in 2009/2010 and we’ve had a decade evidence now that is very clear that it is ultra processed food that is responsible, not just for pandemic weight gain and obesity, but also for a long list of other health problems, including early death."

UPF's, he stressed, is just as addictive as tobacco, alcohol, gambling and drugs for some people, with this claim being evidence-based. And he warns that "nagging" someone to stop eating junk food in order to lose weight and become healthier is not helpful as it "pushes people towards doing things that are harmful and generally makes them more likely to do the thing you're nagging them about."

In fact, one came to the conclusion that: "High UPF consumption is associated with an increased risk of a variety of chronic diseases and mental health disorders. At present, not a single study reported an association between UPF intake and a beneficial health outcome. These findings suggest that dietary patterns with low consumption of UPFs may render broad public health benefits."

And to back up these findings further, another 's conclusion reads: "Higher UPF consumption was associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality risk, with multiple metabolic pathways playing mediating roles."

In response to the video, one viewer said: "I cannot overstate how much Chris has changed my life in the space of just 5 months. In early June I watched a podcast in which he was a guest and he spoke about the same topic.

"Since the 6th June 2023, I've cut out ultra-processed food almost entirely from my diet. Initially I thought it'd be impossible to find foods without crap in it but it's actually been really easy. When I fancy a snack I have an apple or a few grapes, or some nuts. I have a variety of home cooked meals every night.

"For breakfast I have a "full fat" natural yoghurt (containing just milk) and occasionally I'll have toast with a organic jam or scrambled eggs on the weekend (bread sourced from a bakery).

"The home cooked meals aren't what people would consider particularly healthy (plenty of meat, cheese, starchy foods) and I've not cut down on portion sizes. In the last five months I've gone from 112KG to 99.9 KG (as of yesterday). The only other lifestyle change I've made is to take a one-hour walk every week day. Other than this, I've done no other exercise in the last 5 months whatsoever."

You can watch the full episode of