UCL academic follows ultra-processed food diet for BBC documentary

A new BBC One documentary sees a UCL academic eating ultra-processed food for one month, to highlight the harm it causes the body and brain. Honorary Senior Lecturer Dr Chris van Tulleken (UCL Infection & Immunity) presents the show as he tries out the diet, in a self-experiment overseen by Professor Rachel Batterham (UCL Medicine), head of the UCL Centre for Obesity Research and Obesity Theme Lead for the NIHR UCLH Biomedical Research Centre. The documentary, airing Thursday 27 May on BBC One, asks several questions. Is ultra-processed food (UPF) causing obesity in children and could it even be addictive? Across the world childhood obesity rates have risen tenfold in 50 years. In the UK, 21% of children are living with obesity when they leave primary school - the highest it's ever been. Despite decades of trying, why are we unable to tackle this problem? Over the past 40 years, UPF has become entrenched in UK diets and it now accounts for the majority of our calories - in children it accounts for 64% of their diets and in adolescents it is 67%. UPF is cheap, convenient, and yet scientists know little about it.