GoCoCo's press review (04/02/2024)

Did you miss it? Here's our food reading selection of the week.

The usual suspects: UPF vs. health, USA food additives regulation, and the history of bad eating habits.

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🤝 Let's stop the binary exclusion and embrace the nuance.

Not all ultra-processed foods should be placed in the same bag as their impact on health vary: "𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘢𝘳-𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭-𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴, 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺".

That's why the GoCoCo scoring method uses a scale (not a binary good/bad rating), and also uses 3 different criteria:

1️ WHO (recommended/not),

2️ NOVA (ultra-processing),

3️ Chilean labels (high in fats/salt/sugar).

👉 Full article here

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‍⛔ The FDA struggling to get back in the front seat of food additives regulation.

California banned 4 additives. Now Illinois and Pennsylvania are following their footsteps, and California are keeping the edge by looking at a new list of additives from schools. In the meantime, the FDA are gearing up, as far as ressources allow, to catch up and reassess a new list of additives. It would help to ensure the food you buy undergoes the same standards, wherever you live in the USA!

👉 Read here and here.

‍If you are wondering why we should care, check out our blog article where we explain what is at stake. ‍

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‍⌛ Last but not latest: great overview column from 2016 on UPFs.

Interesting that while UPF is a trendy buzz word, it's not a new concept, it's not really news that UPFs are detrimental to health... despite what some (biased) might claim. The strategies to keep us coming back for more were also known "𝘐𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦, “𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺”,𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙋𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩."

Slightly concerning that, knowing all this back then, we still are where we are now.

Déjà vu from the tobacco industry history?

👉 Read column here.

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Feel free to comment, agree, disagree, provide further details on these topics here.

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_{Picture by Vectorjuice on Freepik.}