The Lancet Has Spoken: Ultra-Processed Foods Are a Global Health Emergency – Here’s Why Australia Must Act Now
On November 19, 2025, The Lancet, one of the world’s most respected medical journals, published a powerful new editorial declaring what many health experts have warned for years:
“Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are damaging public health, fuelling chronic diseases, and deepening health inequalities. Addressing this challenge requires a unified global response that confronts corporate power and transforms food systems.”
This is more than just another research study. This is The Lancet raising the alarm, demanding action, and naming names — including Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, and Coca-Cola — as key players behind the global rise in preventable diet-related disease.
And yet, in Australia, the Health Star Rating (HSR) system continues to reward these products — handing 4 and 5 stars to ultra-processed snack bars, flavoured yoghurts, artificially sweetened drinks, and reconstituted meats loaded with chemical additives.
Why ThiS LanCet SerieS ChangeS Everything
The editorial doesn’t mince words. It confirms that:
- UPFs now make up 50% of intake in many high-income countries — including Australia
- These products are hyperpalatable by design, engineered to be addictive and consumed in excess
- Their consumption is displacing whole and minimally processed foods, harming both physical and mental health
- The additives used in UPFs — including colours, emulsifiers, sweeteners and flavourings — interact in ways that drive chronic disease
- The UPF industry has political power and market dominance, actively working to block regulation and mislead the public
The Evidence Is Overwhelming
Research analysing nearly 10 million people has found that high UPF consumption is linked to:
- 50% higher risk of cardiovascular disease-related death
- 12% higher risk of type 2 diabetes per 10% increase in UPF consumption
- 48% higher risk of anxiety disorders
- 21% higher risk of death from any cause
Additional concerns include sleep disorders, depression, obesity, respiratory problems, and various cancers.
For parents, this means your supermarket is filled with foods that appear safe, even healthy, but are systematically undermining your child’s health.
What The LanCet SayS NeedS to Happen Now
The Lancet Series outlines specific priority actions that governments must take:
- Add ultra-processed markers (colours, flavours, non-sugar sweeteners) to nutrient profiling models
- Mandatory front-of-pack warning labels on UPFs
- Bans on marketing aimed at children
- Restrictions on these types of foods in public institutions (schools, hospitals)
- Higher taxes on UPFs
- Stronger competition policy to address market dominance
- Replace self-regulation with mandatory regulation
- Combat corporate interference in policy-making
What’S Really Behind Ultra-ProCeSSed FoodS
The Lancet Series reveals the industrial system driving UPF dominance:
“At the core of the UPF industry is the large-scale processing of cheap commodities, such as maize, wheat, soy, and palm oil, into a wide array of food-derived substances and additives, controlled by a small number of transnational corporations.”
The editorial notes: “UPFs are aggressively marketed and engineered to be hyperpalatable, driving repeated consumption and often displacing traditional, nutrient-rich foods.”
This isn’t accidental. It’s by design.
Where are UltraproCeSSed FoodS Found?
The Lancet Series uses the NOVA classification system, which categorises foods by the extent and purpose of processing.
As the editorial explains: “UPFs are identified by the presence of sensory-related additives that enhance the texture, flavour, or appearance of foods.”
Common examples include:
- Packaged snacks and soft drinks
- Instant noodles and ready meals
- Mass-produced bread and pastries
- Reconstituted meats and nuggets
- Many breakfast cereals
- Flavoured yoghurts with multiple additives
But here’s the critical insight The Lancet emphasises:
“UPFs are rarely consumed in isolation. It is the overall UPF dietary pattern, whereby whole and minimally processed foods are replaced by processed alternatives, and the interaction between multiple harmful additives, that drives adverse health effects.”
This is precisely what current Australian guidelines fail to address — they evaluate nutrients in isolation, not the cumulative impact of industrial processing and additive interactions.
What’S Really Behind Ultra-ProCeSSed FoodS
The Lancet Series reveals the industrial system driving UPF dominance:
“At the core of the UPF industry is the large-scale processing of cheap commodities, such as maize, wheat, soy, and palm oil, into a wide array of food-derived substances and additives, controlled by a small number of transnational corporations.”
The editorial notes: “UPFs are aggressively marketed and engineered to be hyperpalatable, driving repeated consumption and often displacing traditional, nutrient-rich foods.”
This isn’t accidental. It’s by design.
The Health Star Rating HaS LoSt Credibility
Despite the science, Australia’s front-of-pack rating system still:
- Ignores food processing level
- Ignores additive load
- Allows corporate self-rating with no transparency
- Rewards synthetic fibre and isolated protein, not real food quality
That’s how a breakfast cereal with modified starch, three types of sugar, vegetable oil, emulsifiers (471, 322), and synthetic vitamins can earn 4 stars — higher than steel-cut oats.
The Lancet directly addresses this problem, calling for governments to add “ultra-processed markers, such as colours, flavours, and non-sugar sweeteners, to nutrient profiling models used to identify unhealthy foods.”
Australia’s HSR ignores these markers completely. This system is misleading families, fuelling the very dietary patterns The Lancet now warns are killing us.
The Dietary GuidelineS Are 10+ Years Out of Date
Australia’s national dietary guidelines haven’t been updated since 2013 — before the landmark NOVA classification system gained global acceptance, before major studies linking UPFs to mental health and gut inflammation, and before countries like Brazil and Chile pioneered UPF-aware dietary guidelines.
They do not:
- Define or mention UPFs
- Reflect the science on gut health, inflammation, or mood disorders
- Address additive interactions or long-term exposure risks
- Offer practical support for families trying to avoid UPFs
Meanwhile, Brazil, France, Chile, Canada, and the US are all moving to regulate or label UPFs. Australia is being left behind.
Corporate Control of Our Food SyStem
The Lancet Series exposes uncomfortable truths about who controls what we eat:
“The UPF industry generates enormous revenues that support continued growth and fund corporate political activities to counter attempts at UPF regulation. A handful of manufacturers dominate the market, including Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever, and Coca-Cola.”
The editorial is unequivocal about where this leads:
“The UPF industry is emblematic of a food system that is increasingly controlled by transnational corporations that prioritise corporate profit ahead of public health.”
This corporate dominance explains why the Health Star Rating has failed to evolve. Why self-regulation persists. Why products that meet The Lancet’s definition of ultra-processed continue to receive healthy ratings on Australian supermarket shelves.
Why the Real Food Rating IS Now More Important Than Ever
The Real Food Rating system was designed to solve the very problems this Lancet Series identifies.
We assess processing level (enhanced NOVA classification)
We penalise additive load — not just sugar, salt, and fat
We reward ingredient quality and wholefood content
We prioritise children’s health, transparency, and education
We’re independent — not influenced by corporate interests
This isn’t just a star rating system. It’s a movement to put health before profit — and to give parents the truth.
When over 14,000 Australians signed our petition calling for urgent reform of the Health Star Rating, we were told the system was working.
But now The Lancet confirms exactly what we’ve been saying
The Bottom Line
This Lancet Series confirms what Australian parents already know: the food system is not working in our favour. The current rating systems, guidelines, and food policies have prioritised profit over health for far too long.
But we now have a choice. We can continue letting multinational corporations define what’s “healthy”, or we can choose transparency, real food, and a future where our children thrive.
The Lancet has given us the evidence. Now we need the action. Join the Real Food Movement and let’s make this change together.
Let’s make Australia the first country in the world to truly fix food labelling — and protect the next generation from what The Lancet calls “one of the greatest threats to public health.”
Sign our petition to reform the HSR system
Explore the Real Food Ratings at realfoodrating.com
Join the movement on Instagram @realfoodrating
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