Obesity is no longer just an individual problem, and climate change is no longer just an industrial and energy problem. The two crises are becoming increasingly intertwined, and one of the main points of contact is the way we produce and consume food. At the centre of this entanglement are ultra-processed foods: industrial products that are high in calories, low in nutrients, and increasingly dominant in modern diets.
Highlighting the link is a recent analysis published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Science, which explains how the global spread of ultra-processed foods is contributing torising obesity andthe worsening climate crisis.
What are really ultra-processed foods
Packaged snacks, sugary drinks, ready meals, snacks, refined cereals, processed meats: ultra-processed foods are the result of a long industrial chain that combines refined ingredients, additives, sugars, fats, and salt to make cheap, hyper-palatable, and long-life products.
These foods are a sensory trap: they alter hunger and satiety mechanisms, prompting us to eat more and more often, and they tend to replace fresh, minimally processed foods. Not surprisingly, according to data analysed in the study, in many Western countries more than half of daily caloric intake now comes from ultra-processed products.
A Planet getting fatter along with emissions
The study published in Frontiers in Science highlights how the global food system is responsible for about one-third of climate-changing emissions. Ultra-processed foods contribute significantly to this impact because they depend on long, energy-intensive supply chains based on intensive agriculture.
Maize, soybeans, refined vegetable oils and sugars are often the basis of these products, with direct effects on deforestation, water consumption, fertiliser use and loss of biodiversity. Added to this are packaging, transportation and refrigeration, which further increase the environmental footprint.
The result is a mirror game between environmental problems and health issues: what hurts our metabolism tends to hurt ecosystems as well. It is no coincidence that there is increasing talk of One Health: the approach that tries to turn the tide by launching an agri-food model that supports health and sustains ecosystems.
Obesity: a phenomenon that is anything but natural
Today, however, that model is still far off. According to estimates recalled in the scientific analysis, about 38 per cent of the world’s population is overweight or obese. A growth that has been too rapid not to call into question political and cultural responsibilities. The contemporary food system makes less healthy foods more accessible, cheap and advertised than fresh foods. To speak only of “personal choices” is to ignore the economic context that guides those choices every day.
One of the clearest points made by the study is that the problem cannot be solved by nutrition education alone: individual acts are not enough. A structural change is needed: agricultural, tax and health policies that stop encouraging junk food production and make it easier, not harder, to eat healthily and sustainably.
Amongst the measures considered most effective are taxation of ultra-processed products and sugary drinks, use of proceeds to support quality fruits, vegetables and foods, stricter rules on food advertising, especially aimed at children, and a rethinking of agricultural subsidies. According to the authors, even gradual changes in the composition of diets can produce simultaneous public health and climate benefits by reducing emissions, resource consumption, and chronic disease risk.
Two crises, one root
Knowing that obesity and the climate crisis are not two separate emergencies but the product of the same food model is an important first step. The next, and crucial ones, are to change the model that focuses on quantity, standardisation, and short-term profit, passing the costs onto public health and the environment.
Until this knot is addressed, we will continue to chase partial solutions: miracle diets on the one hand, increasingly difficult climate targets on the other. Whilst the system that generates both crises will remain intact.
