Ultra-Processed People cover art

Ultra-Processed People

Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food...and Why Can’t We Stop?

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Ultra-Processed People

By: Chris van Tulleken
Narrated by: Chris van Tulleken
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
FORTNUM & MASON'S DEBUT FOOD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
AN ECONOMIST, DAILY MAIL, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING and AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONE'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
Chosen by the SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, FT and DAILY MAIL as one of their BEST SUMMER BOOKS OF 2023

This audiobook contains exclusive bonus content between Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken, where they deep-dive into what you've just listened to at the end of each part.

An eye-opening investigation into the science, economics, history and production of ultra-processed food.

It's not you, it's the food.

We have entered a new 'age of eating' where most of our calories come from an entirely novel set of substances called Ultra-Processed Food, food which is industrially processed and designed and marketed to be addictive. But do we really know what it's doing to our bodies?

Join Chris in his travels through the world of food science and a UPF diet to discover what's really going on. Find out why exercise and willpower can't save us, and what UPF is really doing to our bodies, our health, our weight, and the planet (hint: nothing good).

For too long we've been told we just need to make different choices, when really we're living in a food environment that makes it nigh-on impossible. So this is a book about our rights. The right to know what we eat and what it does to our bodies and the right to good, affordable food.

'Clearly a brilliant book' James O'Brien

'If you only read one diet or nutrition book in your life, make it this one' Bee Wilson

'A devastating, witty and scholarly destruction of the shit food we eat and why' Adam Rutherford

©2023 Chris van Tulleken (P)2023 Penguin Audio

 Biological Sciences Diets, Nutrition & Healthy Eating Fitness, Diet & Nutrition Politics & Government Science Nutrition Healthy Diet Inspiring Feel Better Food Science

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Food for Life cover art
Spoon-Fed cover art
Hack Your Hormones cover art
The Psychology of Money cover art
Deep Nutrition cover art
In Defense of Food cover art
The Great Plant-Based Con cover art
Think and Grow Vegan cover art
Relax and Enjoy Your Food cover art
A Grain of Salt cover art
72 Reasons to Be Vegan cover art
The Ancestral Indigenous Diet cover art
The Potato Hack cover art
The Diet Compass cover art
Feeding You Lies cover art
Food Rules cover art

Critic reviews

A brilliant book . . . a real eye-opener. The bottom line is that if we keep consuming sugar, salt and fat on the scale that we currently do, it is going to cost all of us an unconscionable fortune in the future. (James O'Brien)
You’ve got to get this book in your life . . . Completely compelling . . . Read a page and think about it for the rest of the week (Chris Evans)
A devastating, witty and scholarly destruction of the shit food we eat and why (Adam Rutherford)
If you only read one diet or nutrition book in your life, make it this one. It will not only change the way you eat but the way you think about food. And it does all this without a hint of finger-wagging or body shaming. I came away feeling so much better informed about every aspect of ultra-processed food, from the way it affects the microbes in our gut to why it is so profitable to produce to why it's so hard to eat only a single bowl of Coco Pops to why any food that is marketed as 'better for you' is almost certainly not. (Bee Wilson)
A wonderful and fascinating exposé of ultra-processed food, edible substances with strange sounding ingredients which are manufactured by some of the wealthiest companies on the planet and which, worryingly, form an increasing part of our diet. As Chris shows, not only have these foods been formulated to ensure that we eat them constantly and without thought, but they hijack our ability to regulate what we eat, primarily by affecting our brains. And he backs up his claims with a powerful self-experiment, along with lots of rigorous and often shocking research. Reading this book will make you question what you eat and how it was produced (Dr. Michael Mosley)
Packed with "I never knew that" moments, Ultra-Processed People is a wonderfully playful book that changed forever how I think about what I eat and why (Hannah Fry)
Everyone needs to know this stuff (Tim Spector, author of SPOON FED and FOOD FOR LIFE)
An engrossing, infuriating read. Ultra-Processed People makes most fictional villains look quaint. Read it and fight back! (Rob Delaney)
A much-needed, eye-opening exposé. Beautifully written, each page reveals hidden truths and asks you to re-think and re-connect to food in a way that has been lost for decades. Truly mind-blowing! (Megan McCubbin)
The past 10 years has seen an inflection point in human history, where more people in the world are now dying of eating too much, than of eating too little. This urgent and captivating read digs deep into one of the huge reasons, the rise and rise of ultra-processed food' (Giles Yeo)
All stars
Most relevant
For those of us who practice intermittent fasting this book tells about the other side of that coin, as we also practice intermittent eating. And what we eat matters.

The author takes a deep look into, through nutritional science and interviews with researchers and people with insider knowledge on how the industrial method of creating foods might well be a contributor to population level rises in obesity in people who have adopted the standard western diet high in ultra-processed foods, including the ones marketed as healthy diet options.

The book explains how some of the very poorly regulated, thousands of additives in industrial foods affect our body, in particular the microbiome and satiety signals. Included is a detailed look on how highly palatable, soft industrially processed foods both promote over eating and are processed quickly.

It also takes a look on the social costs that the practices of some multinational companies have on marginalised communities and how these companies actively are changing traditional food cultures.

The classification on What Is an Ultra-processed food is one that seems to be the most difficult to establish and it is addressed throughout the book. This ambiguity is what is most likely to be the target of push back from those invested in big food. Many foods are obvious, like a weight loss protein shake, low fat flavoured yoghurt or pretty much all the bread my supermarket sells, but with the more ambiguous ones we are to make our own mind up.

The author doesn't set out to change the way we eat (though this is likely after reading the book), he wants to give people an informed choice and fully acknowledges that some of us are stuck in situations where real food choices are limited, either by geography or by economic circumstance.

I listened to the Audiobook and this has a podcast like extra material with Chris talking to his brother about the book and findings in it. I personally found this interesting, even if it distracted from the well edited, beautifully executed, almost prosaic writing in the book.

If you are interested in diet and where nutricional science is heading, and aren't afraid of some of your previous set believes in nutrition and health challenged then read (or listen to this). 🙂

This book isn't a diet book, but it is about diet

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very interesting and thought provoking book. This should be on the school curriculum. I’m not a huge consumer of upf but this book has made me reconsider the small amount I do eat and appreciate how we need to change.

Essential listening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As the writer often states not a lot of the information in this book is clandestine or hidden. it's all there for us to learn about. But like with many things in life we are distracted by products and media of instant gratification. This book takes all that knowledge which would require much work to get through; mashes it and offers it up as a tasty soft and easily digestible snack much like UPF. Thankyou.

A book we all need to read/listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A lot to digest {pun intended}.
A brilliant insight to Ultra Proccesed Foods {UPF] and the effects it has on our bodies.
Why they are produced and how they are produced and the devistation UPFs are wreaking world wide.
Sounds alarmist but just listern and learn .
All based on proper scientific data Not just error ridden nonsense.
A brilliant book.
Way Dr Van TulleKen is not a government advicer I don't know.

A must listen /read. A real eye opener.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There is a lot of information in this book. And it takes different formats, with narrative from Chris and then discussions between Chris and Xand. They have chatted on podcasts before and now this information has been put into a book.

Ultra processed food appears to be gaining more followers, even though we are all conscious of eating whole food. It seems to be the convenience and time of picking up these foods. And fast food and takeaways. Even though we have lots of cookery shows with few ingredients, a lot of people simply do not have time to cook them and that is why packaged foods are so much easier. Or a ready meal you can take out of the freezer and never goes bad.

Chris makes it clear that he wants us to carry on eating the ultra processed food and then think about what he is telling us. I feel this is a book that I need to re-visit several times to get out all the information, as there is so much.

I found the bread discussion interesting. How a lot of bread can just be squished into a soft mush, much as it is when eaten. But a home baked (or bakery) sour dough with just a few basic ingredients is so much more chewy and takes time to digest. He says that a lot of UPF is just a soft mushy texture and easy to eat. And he's right.

I think I would have liked a section on how to reduce eating it. The usual sort of practical guide as to how to switch each meal and some suggestions of how to do so. Maybe he felt this was done in so many other books (it is) and was not needed. But I feel that Xand especially would have practical suggestions as he lost a lot of weight after he just gave up UPF cold turkey.

This is a very informative book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews