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Sigma Nutrition Radio

Sigma Nutrition Radio

#583: Ultra-Processed Foods & Fixing the Food Environment – Kevin Hall, PhD

Nov 11, 2025 · 55m

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Ultra-processed foods have become central to the way we eat and to many of the challenges we face in public health nutrition. They dominate supermarket shelves, shape population diets, and often appear as the prime suspect in rising obesity and metabolic disease rates. But beyond the label itself, what exactly makes these foods problematic? Is it their nutrient composition, their texture and palatability, the rate at which we consume them, or the broader environments that make them so accessible and appealing? The debate around ultra-processed foods sits at the intersection of metabolic science, behaviour, and policy. It raises uncomfortable questions about how food systems evolved to…