{"id":360523,"date":"2025-01-05T09:36:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T08:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=360523"},"modified":"2025-01-05T09:36:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T08:36:17","slug":"modern-scientific-controversies-the-war-on-food-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=360523","title":{"rendered":"Modern Scientific Controversies: The War on Food: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"723\" height=\"482\" data-attachment-id=\"360536\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?attachment_id=360536\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7.jpg?fit=723%2C482&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7.jpg?resize=723%2C482&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-360536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 723px) 100vw, 723px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From <a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2025\/01\/03\/modern-scientific-controversies-the-war-on-food-part-1\/\">Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guest Essay by <a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/author\/kiphansen2\/\">Kip Hansen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Prologue:<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp; This is a new entry to a series-of-many which have discussed ongoing scientific controversies, a specific type of which are often referred to in the science press and elsewhere as \u201cWars\u201d \u2013 for instance &nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/?s=%22by+Kip+Hansen%22+Modern+Scientific+Controversies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Monarch Wars, The Meat Wars, The Obesity Epidemic, The Salt Wars, The War in Sugar and the Great Barrier Reef Wars<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All of these controversies, these scientific wars, share common features which I laid out in&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2017\/01\/02\/modern-scientific-controversies-part-5-common-elements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Modern Scientific Controversies Part 5: Common Elements<\/a><\/em>\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The War on Food<\/em>&nbsp;&nbsp;could stand as an exemplar for all of the controversies \u2013 and, in fact, it over laps with three of the &nbsp;previously covered Wars:&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2016\/07\/19\/modern-scientific-controversies-part-3-the-war-on-sugar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The War on Sugar<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2019\/10\/10\/modern-scientific-controversies-part-7-the-meat-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Meat War<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2016\/12\/17\/modern-scientific-controversies-part-4-the-obesity-epidemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Obesity Epidemic<\/a><\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Note:<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp; This piece is just a short introduction into the multi-part series on&nbsp;<em>Ultra-processed Foods, UPFs<\/em>.&nbsp; &nbsp;There will be several more similarly short essays in this series.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong># # # # #<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The nutrition and food news today, including radio, TV, blogs, is full of stories decrying the consumption of\u00a0<strong>Ultra-Processed Foods<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 UPFs. Normally I would give a series of links to the latest headlines, but I doubt anyone could have missed them \u2013 they have been ubiquitous.\u00a0 Here is one typical piece, asking the main question:\u00a0\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yalemedicine.org\/news\/ultraprocessed-foods-bad-for-you\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ultraprocessed Foods: Are They Bad for You?\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\u00a0<strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yalemedicine.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YaleMedicine<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0article refers to a number of recent review papers in major journals and uncritically quotes or paraphrases their conclusions in statements such as: \u201c<em>A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/384\/bmj-2023-077310\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">review<\/a>, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in 2024, looked at 45 studies involving almost 10 million participants. The review authors suggest that eating more ultraprocessed foods is linked to a higher risk of dying from any cause and has ties to 32 health conditions, including heart disease, mental health disorders, type 2 diabetes, and other problems\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u201creview\u201d mentioned is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/384\/bmj-2023-077310\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lane et al. 2024<\/a>&nbsp;[&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/bmj\/384\/bmj-2023-077310.full.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pdf here<\/a>&nbsp;], which comes with a link to the BMJ Editorial \u201c<em>Reasons to avoid ultra-processed foods<\/em>\u201d.&nbsp; The editorial includes this statement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c<em>The quality of the evidence was strong for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/publications\/dictionaries\/cancer-terms\/def\/all-cause-mortality#:~:text=A%20term%20that%20refers%20to,%2C%20race%2C%20or%20ethnic%20group.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">all cause mortality<\/a>, obesity, and type 2 diabetes (this evidence was rated as of moderate quality using the GRADE system, which initially considers all observational studies as low-quality evidence). Overall, the authors found that diets high in ultra-processed food may be harmful to most\u2014perhaps all\u2014body systems<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The authors of the study report their findings like this:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"466\" data-attachment-id=\"360526\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?attachment_id=360526\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-106.png?fit=600%2C466&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"600,466\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"image\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-106.png?fit=600%2C466&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-106.png?resize=600%2C466&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-360526\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-106.png?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-106.png?resize=300%2C233&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As an introduction to this whole topic, let\u2019s just examine the actual evidence found in\u00a0<em>Lane et al. 2024<\/em>\u00a0and compare it to the characterization from the BMJ and the authors\u2019 conclusion.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I supply the figures from the paper, annotated, along with two explanatory graphics on evidence strength.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"569\" data-attachment-id=\"360528\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?attachment_id=360528\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-108.png?fit=720%2C569&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"720,569\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"image\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-108.png?fit=720%2C569&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-108.png?resize=720%2C569&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-360528\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-108.png?w=720&amp;ssl=1 720w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-108.png?resize=300%2C237&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"536\" height=\"720\" data-attachment-id=\"360529\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?attachment_id=360529\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-109.png?fit=536%2C720&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"536,720\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"image\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-109.png?fit=536%2C720&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-109.png?resize=536%2C720&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-360529\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-109.png?w=536&amp;ssl=1 536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-109.png?resize=223%2C300&amp;ssl=1 223w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-109.png?resize=150%2C200&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"723\" height=\"345\" data-attachment-id=\"360530\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?attachment_id=360530\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-110.png?fit=800%2C382&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"800,382\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"image\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-110.png?fit=723%2C345&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-110.png?resize=723%2C345&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-360530\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-110.png?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-110.png?resize=300%2C143&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-110.png?resize=768%2C367&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 723px) 100vw, 723px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"723\" height=\"489\" data-attachment-id=\"360532\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?attachment_id=360532\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-111.png?fit=800%2C541&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"800,541\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"image\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-111.png?fit=723%2C489&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-111.png?resize=723%2C489&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-360532\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-111.png?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-111.png?resize=300%2C203&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-111.png?resize=768%2C519&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 723px) 100vw, 723px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let me attempt a more pragmatic, unbiased interpretation of those two tables of findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every item highlighted in Yellow indicates reasons to doubt the validity of the finding, for the following reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1.&nbsp; Odds ratios (ORs) of a magnitude of &nbsp;1.02 to 1.07 are vanishingly small and are doubtfully of &nbsp;any significant, real world &nbsp;importance &nbsp;\u2013 and certainly are not&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0003999320300034\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Minimal Clinically Important Differences<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2.&nbsp; In all charts, any highlighted finding with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Forest_plot#Confidence_interval_whiskers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Confidence Interval whiskers<\/a>&nbsp;that include \u201c1\u201d, there is no significant difference \u2013 or, in plain English, \u201cnothing done\u201d and the effect cannot be considered either positive or negative. &nbsp;These individual finding should not be included in any overall result of the study and not combined with other findings for an \u201coverall score\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3.&nbsp; Studies with a GRADE rating &nbsp;[\u201ca method used to assess the quality of evidence in research studies\u201d] &nbsp;of&nbsp;<em>Low<\/em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>Very Low<\/em>&nbsp;do not return &nbsp;\u201cstrong evidence\u201d, they produce low or very low quality evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4.\u00a0 Findings of Studies with a Credibility Score of III, IV and V are not actually\u00a0<em>evidence.<\/em>\u00a0 They are restatements of summaries [and as we shall see are often inaccurate summaries] about the evidence found in other systematic reviews and are prone to be what John P.A. Ioannidis describes as\u00a0\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1182327\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">5.\u00a0 All-Cause Mortality is neither caused nor prevented exclusively by diet.\u00a0 An Odds Ratio as low as 1.02 (1.01 to 1.03) is not likely to be a significant result considering the multitude of possible confounders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is one interesting finding in Lane 2024 that warrants a closer look:&nbsp; the mental health finding.&nbsp; The ORs are high enough to be something but the GRADE rating of the studies used are&nbsp;<em>low<\/em>. &nbsp;I would want to dig in there and see which way the Arrow of Causation is pointing \u2013 do mental\/emotional problems cause increased eating of UPFs or does the eating of more UPFs cause the mental\/emotional health issues.&nbsp; Observational studies such as these cannot answer that question, they only find an association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We will see this same pattern repeated through all the major systematic reviews of the UPF issue:&nbsp; Tiny ORs\/HRs, ORs\/HRs with CIs that include \u20181\u2019, studies included in reviews even though they are of&nbsp;<em>Low<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Very Low<\/em>&nbsp;quality, low Credibility Scores due to&nbsp;<em>type of study<\/em>, studies that measure a vague, not agreed upon, &nbsp;shifting &nbsp;and ill-defined range of foods \u2013 labeled UPFs \u2013 &nbsp;and results claimed for a broad heterogeneous range of foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;The next essay in this series will cover:&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>The Shifting and Indefinite Definition of UPFs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong># # # # #<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Author\u2019s Comment:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am trying a new thing by keeping the essays in this series short enough to be read by the average reader with limited time. &nbsp;The result will be several shorter essays, around 1000 words, with a reading time of 4 or 5 minutes.&nbsp; &nbsp;Let me know in comments (start with \u201cKip \u2013 \u201c) if this is better or not.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;The upside is that more readers can actually read the&nbsp;<strong><em>entire<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;piece if they are interested.&nbsp; The downside is that the shorter essays will cover a limited part of the whole topic \u2013 leaving lots of questions that will have to be (hopefully) answered in subsequent essays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Lane et al. 2024 does<\/em> have some findings that may be interesting to researchers.\u00a0 But is uses language in the conclusion referring to \u201cthe strongest available evidence\u201d for evidence from studies that are acknowledged to be of\u00a0<em>Low and Very Low quality<\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0Such evidence is Not Strong (or Strongest) \u2013 it may be the \u201cstrongest\u201d of a lot of weak evidence, but it should be so stated. \u00a0Lots of weak evidence just does not add up to strong evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These large observational studies can raise interesting questions but cannot and do not supply any definitive answers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next in this series will try to answer the question:&nbsp;&nbsp;<em>What is Ultraprocessed Food, exactly?&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thanks for reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong># # # # #<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a new entry to a series-of-many which have discussed ongoing scientific controversies, a specific type of which are often referred to in the science press and elsewhere as \u201cWars\u201d \u2013 for instance \u00a0The Monarch Wars, The Meat Wars, The Obesity Epidemic, The Salt Wars, The War in Sugar and the Great Barrier Reef Wars.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":360536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691832439,691832440,691832441],"class_list":{"0":"post-360523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-british-medical-journal-bmj","9":"tag-odds-ratios-ors","10":"tag-war-on-food","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1vMT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":366302,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=366302","url_meta":{"origin":360523,"position":0},"title":"Modern Scientific Controversies: The War on Food: Part 4","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"16\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember, UPFs does not mean \u201cjunk food\u201d.\u00a0 UPFs does not mean sugary sodas, hamburgers, French fries, candy and snacks.\u00a0 Those are a concern in modern societies, but, while they are often included in UPFs, they are not the core of UPFs.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In \"Epidemiology\"","block_context":{"text":"Epidemiology","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=epidemiology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Firefly-war-on-food-44418-scaled-1.webp?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Firefly-war-on-food-44418-scaled-1.webp?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Firefly-war-on-food-44418-scaled-1.webp?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Firefly-war-on-food-44418-scaled-1.webp?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Firefly-war-on-food-44418-scaled-1.webp?fit=1200%2C686&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":412950,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=412950","url_meta":{"origin":360523,"position":1},"title":"Junk science and government","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/11\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Science controversies have become left-right wars fought on the internet. These days everything exists, from run-of-the-mill issues such as\u00a0(fake) climate change\u00a0or extreme numbers of\u00a0unsafe vaccines\u00a0children need to receive --\u00a0up to 80 by age 18, including boosters, and\u00a0COVID vaccines saving lives\u00a0(hardly, but anyhow), to the\u00a0Tylenol-autism dustup.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMP_2hKtV011OSQWleScrGVnylGhFzb1xYJ5XF5fOrceOkkaZExCNdGE8vRIsIsbbj9qFbQ3YGG2XQJ1AXcqOVd0lITwiR0xTRq3Pr7rWgkxlZunES106wamcjUmhFw.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMP_2hKtV011OSQWleScrGVnylGhFzb1xYJ5XF5fOrceOkkaZExCNdGE8vRIsIsbbj9qFbQ3YGG2XQJ1AXcqOVd0lITwiR0xTRq3Pr7rWgkxlZunES106wamcjUmhFw.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMP_2hKtV011OSQWleScrGVnylGhFzb1xYJ5XF5fOrceOkkaZExCNdGE8vRIsIsbbj9qFbQ3YGG2XQJ1AXcqOVd0lITwiR0xTRq3Pr7rWgkxlZunES106wamcjUmhFw.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMP_2hKtV011OSQWleScrGVnylGhFzb1xYJ5XF5fOrceOkkaZExCNdGE8vRIsIsbbj9qFbQ3YGG2XQJ1AXcqOVd0lITwiR0xTRq3Pr7rWgkxlZunES106wamcjUmhFw.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMP_2hKtV011OSQWleScrGVnylGhFzb1xYJ5XF5fOrceOkkaZExCNdGE8vRIsIsbbj9qFbQ3YGG2XQJ1AXcqOVd0lITwiR0xTRq3Pr7rWgkxlZunES106wamcjUmhFw.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":361521,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=361521","url_meta":{"origin":360523,"position":2},"title":"Modern Scientific Controversies The War on Food: Part 2, What are UPFs?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"What are Ultraprocessed Foods?\u00a0\u00a0The UPF literature gives long and confused definitions, but in almost every case, falls back on the definition provided by Carlos A. Monteiro\u00a0(and his colleagues In\u00eas Castro, Renata Bertazzi-Levy, Rafael Claro and Geoffrey Cannon) in\u00a0his\u00a0original work in 2009 on the subject\u00a0titled: \u201cNutrition and health. The issue is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQs)\"","block_context":{"text":"Food Frequency Questionnaires (FFQs)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=food-frequency-questionnaires-ffqs"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0l158_22901555935007.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0l158_22901555935007.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0l158_22901555935007.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0l158_22901555935007.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0l158_22901555935007.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":294604,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=294604","url_meta":{"origin":360523,"position":3},"title":"Climate Weaponized for War on\u00a0Meat","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"We all know what climate change is. The truth is that the UN, most globalists, and a wide range of world leaders\u201d blame human activities for climate change. Whether or not climate change is real or that human activities are enhancing climate change is not important to this discussion.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/NZC-BLOG201211-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/NZC-BLOG201211-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/NZC-BLOG201211-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/NZC-BLOG201211-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/NZC-BLOG201211-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":362705,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=362705","url_meta":{"origin":360523,"position":4},"title":"Modern Scientific Controversies: The War on Food: Part 3 \u2014 UPFs: What Are They Measuring?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"According to the American Medical Association, in an article that is part of JAMA\u2019s \u201cWhat Doctors Wish Patients Knew\u2122\u201d series: \u201cResearch has shown that diets high in ultraprocessed foods are linked to more than 30 health conditions, according to an umbrella review of meta-analyses that was published in The BMJ.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American Medical Association\"","block_context":{"text":"American Medical Association","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=american-medical-association"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0d4331017934843.562c108350ee7-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":293122,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=293122","url_meta":{"origin":360523,"position":5},"title":"Updated: Climates Don\u2019t Start Wars, People\u00a0Do","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"30\/12\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The alarmist methodology is repetitive, only the subject changes. First, create a computer model, purporting to be a physical or statistical representation of the real world. Then play with the parameters until fears are supported by the model outputs.","rel":"","context":"In \"African civil wars\"","block_context":{"text":"African civil wars","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=african-civil-wars"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0globalclimate.jpg?fit=1200%2C849&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0globalclimate.jpg?fit=1200%2C849&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0globalclimate.jpg?fit=1200%2C849&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0globalclimate.jpg?fit=1200%2C849&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0globalclimate.jpg?fit=1200%2C849&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=360523"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360538,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360523\/revisions\/360538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/360536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=360523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=360523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=360523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}