New study raises alarms about health impacts and risks of ultra-processed foods

In today's Health Watch, new research is linking ultra-processed foods to higher risks of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, even early death. For more on what you need to know, we're joined by CBS News Medical Contributor Dr. Selene Gounder, Editor-at-Large for Public Health at KFF Health News. Dr. Gounder, thank you very much for being here. So-called ultra-processed, what is it? What's the study show? So there are two ways you can identify this that are pretty easy. One is, are there ingredients you can't pronounce on the label? Another one is, are there more than five ingredients? Those aren't perfect rules of thumb, but they're a pretty quick and easy way to identify. These Lancet studies combined data from a number of long-term studies looking at what is the, what are the health risks of ultra-processed foods? So we see an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression, and even early death. What can the government do to reduce the amount of ultra-processed food in our diet? Well, I think this is an important point, because just saying eat less ultra-processed food clearly is not working. About half of Americans' diets are ultra-processed food. So what are some of the things? One is just defining what is ultra-processed food, because you can't really regulate or do other things until you have a definition that we can all agree on. Two would be front-of-package food labeling. This has been done in other countries, Mexico, Chile, for example. And when they did that and made it very clear to consumers what they were eating, you saw a decrease in consumption of those highest-risk things. And then it's things like subsidies, taxes. Can we use, can we reduce subsidies for really unhealthy foods, put some modest taxes on the least healthy foods, and use that money to subsidize healthy foods? So people don't have to wait on a government intervening in any way. They can make choices in their own lives. What advice do you have for people looking for alternatives? Well, first of all, focus on having two to three real meals a day. So whole foods, not ultra-processed foods. So some examples to make this concrete, for example, for breakfast, overnight oats with frozen fruit. Frozen fruits and vegetables are actually a really healthy option, often cheaper. For lunch, maybe it's a bean and vegetable salad. And for dinner, something like tin fish with frozen vegetables again and brown rice. And by the way, condiment sauces can also be a hidden source of ultra-processed food. There are a lot of things you can do there. Don't come for the sauces, all right? Dr. Counter, thank you very much. Appreciate it. And while you're at it, the cheese too. Thank you both.