Laura Poy Solano
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, November 27, 2025, p. 16
Ultra-processed products have displaced traditional diets around the world and have become one of the main drivers of the pandemic of chronic diet-related diseases, experts in nutrition and public health policies said.
By presenting the series Ultra-processed foods and human health, published in the magazine The Lancet, They warned about the political and economic power of large transnational companies, which use the following strategies to preserve their interests: lobbying, political financing, government infiltration and litigation, promotion of governance models favorable to their companies, self-regulation, as well as front organizations for social, academic and manipulation purposes.
In a press video conference, members of organizations, including the Latin American and Caribbean Nutrition and Health Community of Practice; Nucleus for Epidemiological Research in Nutrition and Health, University of Sao Paulo; Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, University of Chile; The National Institute of Public Health, of the Ministry of Health, and El Poder del Consumidor, highlighted that one of the main public health problems worldwide is being faced.
The series, made up of three documents – explained Alejandro Calvillo, from El Poder del Consumidor – exposes the policies of several countries to reduce the harm of foods high in sugars, fats and sodium, and raises the need to have more comprehensive policies that include everything from production, advertising, marketing to consumption.
Brazilian, Chilean and Mexican specialists warn about the political and economic power that ultra-processed product transnationals exercise over governments to guarantee lax regulations or promote self-regulations that “have been proven not to work; on the contrary, solid systems of regulation and surveillance must be created.”
One of the main obstacles to advancing public policies, Calvillo said, is the activities of this industry in the political sphere, “coordinated transnationally through a global network of front groups, multi-stakeholder initiatives and research partners to block regulations that affect their interests.”
