Abstract
The share of ultra-processed foods in human diets is rising nearly everywhere, raising serious concerns for human and planetary health. Too often, blame is placed on individuals or families, and their dietary choices, stigmatizing people living with obesity, and resulting in ineffective policy responses that focus on consumers alone. In this presentation Dr Baker presents an alternative interpretation. His research focuses instead on the role of the food industry, and the market and political practices used by large corporations to shape food systems and ultimately-to grow and sustain ultra-processed food markets on a global scale. Corporations like Coca-Cola, Nestle and McDonalds act as vectors for the spread of ultra-processed foods worldwide, normalizing their products through intensive marketing, and displacing the sectors and industries that produce fresh and minimally processed foods. The same corporations fund and coordinate lobby groups, develop self-governing regulations, and promote corporate science to frame societal debates about ultra-processed foods, and to block progressive public health regulation. Responding to this challenge requires comprehensive policy frameworks that counteract the market and political activities of these corporations, and the mobilization of broad coalitions of organizations working for the public health interest.
