The Disturbing Reality Of Ultra-Processed Food

Summary

This video script delves into the concerning prevalence of ultra-processed foods in our diets, which are not only pervasive but also potentially harmful. Despite being high in sugar and calories, the real issue lies in the manufacturing processes that pre-digest these foods, making them easy to overconsume and linked to various health risks like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. The script contrasts ultra-processed foods with minimally processed ones, highlighting how the former can disrupt our body's natural satiety signals and contribute to a range of health issues. It also touches on the economic incentives driving the food industry to prioritize profit over nutritional value, urging viewers to be more mindful of their food choices.

Takeaways

• 🍔 Ultra-processed foods are not just junk food; they are pervasive in grocery stores and can be found in unexpected places.
• 📉 Consuming too many ultra-processed foods is linked to a shortened lifespan and an increased risk of various health issues like diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver disease, and depression.
• 🔬 The manufacturing processes of ultra-processed foods involve predigesting raw ingredients, which may lead to health problems.
• 🍎 The difference between whole foods and ultra-processed foods lies in the extreme level of processing that results in pre-digested food products.
• 🏭 Ultra-processed foods are made from industrial ingredients and techniques, making them unrecognizable as traditional foods.
• 🍰 A study showed that even when calorie intake was the same, participants on an ultra-processed diet gained weight while those on a minimally processed diet lost it.
• 🧠 Ultra-processed foods can affect the body's hunger signals and lead to overeating due to their quick digestion and impact on brain chemistry.
• 🌱 The rise in obesity rates correlates with the increased presence of ultra-processed foods in the food supply since the 1980s.
• 🍖 The food industry's focus on profit drives the production of ultra-processed foods, prioritizing cost-effectiveness over nutritional quality.
• 🌟 The script calls for a change in the food system, highlighting the need for awareness and a shift towards healthier, less processed food options.

Q & A

What is the main issue with ultra-processed foods according to the script?

The main issue with ultra-processed foods is that they are highly processed using industrial techniques that break down raw ingredients into molecular components. This predigestion process makes the food easier to consume but can harm health by disrupting natural satiety signals and increasing the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

What does the term 'pre-digested food' refer to in the context of ultra-processed foods?

'Pre-digested food' refers to the manufacturing process where raw ingredients are broken down into their molecular components, like starches and sugars, before being reassembled into edible products. This is a key feature of ultra-processed foods, making them easier to digest but nutritionally problematic.

How does ultra-processed food differ from homemade food in terms of ingredients?

Ultra-processed foods differ from homemade food because they are made using industrial ingredients, such as starch slurries, protein isolates, and emulsifiers, which are broken down and reassembled. In contrast, homemade food uses whole or minimally processed ingredients like flour, butter, and sugar.

Why are ultra-processed foods linked to overeating and weight gain?

Ultra-processed foods are linked to overeating and weight gain because they are digested quickly, causing the body to lose its natural ability to signal fullness to the brain. This leads to increased hunger, cravings, and excessive calorie consumption.

What are some examples of ultra-processed foods mentioned in the script?

Examples of ultra-processed foods mentioned include McDonald's apple pie, Pringles, boxed chicken nuggets, frozen dinners, and most cereals, including many marketed as healthy options.

What are the four groups of food processing mentioned in the script?

The four groups of food processing are: 1) Unprocessed or minimally processed foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables; 2) Processed culinary ingredients, like salt, sugar, and oils; 3) Processed foods, like canned or fermented foods; and 4) Ultra-processed foods, which consist of industrial formulations created through a series of complex techniques.

What impact does ultra-processed food have on brain function, particularly in terms of addiction?

Ultra-processed foods can have an addictive effect on the brain due to their rapid digestion and the combination of sugar, salt, and fat, which stimulates dopamine release. The faster rate of delivery to the brain increases cravings, similar to addictive substances.

How does the food industry's profit motives affect the quality of ultra-processed food?

The food industry prioritizes profit over ingredient quality. To maximize profits, companies use cheap, highly processed ingredients, flavor enhancers, and additives to mimic the taste of natural foods. This allows them to cut costs and increase shelf life, but at the expense of nutritional value.

Why is it difficult for consumers to recognize ultra-processed foods in the grocery store?

It is difficult for consumers to recognize ultra-processed foods because they are often marketed as wholesome or healthy, with misleading packaging. Many everyday products, such as yogurts, breads, and cereals, appear nutritious but contain industrial ingredients similar to those found in junk food.

What are some of the health risks associated with long-term consumption of ultra-processed foods?

Long-term consumption of ultra-processed foods is linked to serious health risks such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver disease, depression, and potentially even cancer. Studies suggest that these foods disrupt the body's natural metabolic processes and contribute to chronic disease.

Outlines

00:00

🍔 The Perils of Ultra-Processed Foods

This paragraph introduces the concept of ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which are not only junk foods but also infiltrate unexpected areas of our diets. The narrator explains that UPFs are cheap, convenient, and prevalent in American diets. The health risks associated with UPFs are outlined, including shortened lifespan, increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver disease, and depression. The paragraph emphasizes that the issue with UPFs goes beyond just calories, sugar, and fiber, suggesting that manufacturing processes that predigest food ingredients might be a hidden reason behind these health issues.

05:00

🔬 The Science Behind Predigested Food

The paragraph delves into the manufacturing processes of UPFs, explaining how basic food crops like corn, wheat, and potatoes are broken down into molecular parts. This process results in 'pre-digested' food, which is described as the opposite of 'farm to table'. The paragraph discusses how these molecular parts are then combined with artificial additives to create a wide range of UPFs. The example of McDonald's apple pie versus a homemade apple pie is used to illustrate the difference between processed and ultra-processed foods. The paragraph also explains the four groups of food processing, with a focus on group four, which includes UPFs that are made possible only through modern food science.

10:03

🥔 The Transformation of Simple Foods into UPFs

This paragraph further explores how simple food items like potato chips are transformed into UPFs through industrial processes. It contrasts the traditional method of making potato chips with the manufacturing process of Pringles, which involves a complex list of ingredients, many of which are derived from predigested food components. The paragraph highlights how these processes result in foods that are technically made from real food components but are vastly different from anything found in nature. The discussion also touches on how these UPFs are designed to be quickly digestible, which may contribute to overeating and obesity.

15:05

🌐 The Ubiquity and Impact of Ultra-Processed Foods

The final paragraph addresses the widespread presence of UPFs in the modern food supply, noting that they now make up a significant portion of the average diet. It discusses how these foods are not just limited to obvious junk food but also include items like yogurt, cereals, and even some health and diet foods. The paragraph references a study where participants gained weight on a diet of UPFs despite consuming the same amount of calories as those on a minimally processed diet, suggesting that UPFs themselves may be contributing to weight gain and hunger. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the need for change in the food system due to the detrimental effects of UPFs on health and the environment.

Keywords

💡Ultra-Processed Foods

Ultra-processed foods refer to industrial formulations made primarily from ingredients derived through extensive industrial processes, like refined sugars, oils, and emulsifiers. These foods are often packaged for convenience and tend to have additives for flavor, color, and texture. In the video, ultra-processed foods are identified as harmful to health, contributing to diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

💡Predigested Food

Predigested food refers to food that has been broken down into simpler components during the manufacturing process, mimicking part of the human digestive process. This predigestion is cited as a major factor contributing to the health issues linked with ultra-processed foods, as it leads to faster absorption in the body, disrupting natural hunger and fullness signals.

💡Slurries

Slurries are liquid mixtures of food components such as starches and proteins that are derived from disassembling crops like corn and wheat. The video explains how these slurries are further processed and transformed into various food products, highlighting the unnatural and industrial nature of ultra-processed foods.

💡Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis is a chemical process that breaks down molecules with the addition of water, simulating part of the human digestion process. In the context of ultra-processed foods, hydrolysis is used to break down starches and other components into simpler sugars, making the food easier to digest and, as the video notes, contributing to the obesity epidemic.

💡Industrial Ingredients

Industrial ingredients are components used in food production that are not typically found or used in home cooking. Examples include emulsifiers, refined starches, and artificial flavorings. The video emphasizes how these ingredients form the basis of ultra-processed foods, which have little in common with traditional, minimally processed foods.

💡Rate of Delivery

Rate of delivery refers to the speed at which a substance, like food or drugs, reaches the brain or body. In the video, this concept is linked to how quickly ultra-processed foods are digested and absorbed, which increases their addictiveness, similar to how addictive drugs work. The faster absorption disrupts the body’s natural hunger signals.

💡Obesity

Obesity is a condition characterized by excessive body fat, and it is linked to consuming ultra-processed foods. The video connects the rise of ultra-processed foods in the food supply with increasing obesity rates, particularly because these foods lead to overeating due to their quick digestion and lack of nutrients that promote fullness.

💡Food Matrix

A food matrix refers to the natural structure of food, which includes its physical and chemical components. The video explains that ultra-processed foods break down and reconstruct the food matrix, resulting in 'edible food-like products' that lack the health benefits of whole, minimally processed foods.

💡Addiction

Addiction in this context refers to the compulsive craving for certain ultra-processed foods. The video compares the addictive properties of these foods to those of drugs, stating that the rapid rate of delivery to the brain makes people crave and overconsume them. This is due to the combination of sugar, salt, and fat engineered to make the food nearly irresistible.

💡Metabolic Health

Metabolic health refers to the proper functioning of metabolic processes, including blood sugar regulation and fat storage. The video highlights how ultra-processed foods negatively affect metabolic health by promoting weight gain, disrupting hunger signals, and contributing to conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

Highlights

Ultra-processed foods are not just junk food; they're pervasive in unexpected places.

These foods are linked to a shortened lifespan and various health issues such as diabetes, heart disease, and depression.

The problem with ultra-processed foods may not be just their nutritional content but also the manufacturing processes that pre-digest the ingredients.

Ultra-processed foods are defined by their extreme processing, making them unrecognizable from their natural state.

Basic food crops are broken down into molecular parts, creating a 'pre-digested' food that is easy to overconsume.

Ultra-processed foods are not something you could make at home due to the complexity of modern food science involved.

The difference between an apple and a McDonald's apple pie illustrates the extreme processing in ultra-processed foods.

Food is categorized into four groups based on processing levels, with ultra-processed foods being the most concerning.

Ultra-processed foods use industrial ingredients and techniques, unlike traditional cooking methods.

The ingredients in ultra-processed foods like Pringles are a stark contrast to homemade alternatives.

Ultra-processed foods are designed to be quickly digestible, which may disrupt the body's natural satiety signals.

These foods can be highly addictive due to their rapid impact on the brain's reward system.

The study where participants ate only ultra-processed foods for two weeks resulted in weight gain despite similar caloric intake.

Ultra-processed foods might be affecting our body's ability to regulate hunger and weight.

The food industry's profit-driven approach leads to the creation of ultra-processed foods that prioritize taste over nutrition.

The rise in chronic diseases may be linked to the widespread adoption of ultra-processed foods post-Second World War.

The food system's sustainability and global health are being questioned due to the prevalence of ultra-processed foods.

Transcripts

(dramatic music)

- You may be eating predigested food

and it turns out we're all eating more of it

than we think we are.

- [Narrator] Ultra-processed foods,

they're often cheap and convenient

and Americans, of course, eat a lot of them.

- Because here's the thing,

ultra-processed food isn't just junk food,

it's showing up places you wouldn't expect.

It has taken over the grocery store

and I think we all already know

that it's unhealthy, addictive and more.

- [Narrator 2] Eating too many ultra-processed foods

could shorten your lifespan.

- [Narrator 3] Raises the risk of diabetes.

- [Narrator 4] Heart disease, fatty liver disease.

- [Narrator 5] And depression.

- [Narrator 6] They can cause harm similar to smoking.

- [Narrator 7] Eating them too often

could be taking years off your life.

- But this article breaks down one of the hidden reasons

that ultra-processed food is leading to all these issues

and it's not just calories or sugar or a lack of fiber.

"According to emerging science,

it may be due to manufacturing processes

that predigest raw food ingredients.

We are eating predigested food."

The idea of eating predigested food

is just so viscerally awful.

- Basically the opposite of farm to table.

- But you know what?

I love reading about how evil the food industry is,

because it just gives me so much drive

and motivation to say,

(censor beeping)

ultra-processed food.

Knowing they're making bank,

tricking us all into eating something

that's terrible for us,

it just gives you that little extra fuel to be like, no,

I'm not gonna touch any of my old favorite UPFs.

Not you, Corn Pops, (stamp thudding)

Not you, Pizza Pockets, (stamp thudding)

Not you ramen, (stamp thudding)

not you boxed chicken nuggets.

(chicken nuggets squawking)

And I'm sure many of you are the same.

Like I just cannot stand being tricked

into doing something I know is bad for me.

Like it's just like, no.

And hopefully today's video will give you that same vibe.

By the way, my behavior change course,

"How to Change," is launching in March.

If you want to learn the skill of change,

break bad habits

and improve your relationship with yourself,

this course was made for you.

Click the link below for more information

and get on the pre-launch list.

As a thank you,

anyone who signs up for the pre-launch list

will receive a huge discount

at the time that the program comes out.

So first, what is ultra-processed food anyway?

Well, it may seem obvious when I say it,

it comes down to the processing.

"What does pre-digested mean?

To manufacture cheap, delicious food

that is packaged for convenience,

basic food crops such as corn, wheat, and potatoes

are disassembled into their molecular parts."

Think about that, breaking foods down to their molecules,

that's where the ultra comes from in ultra-processed.

And it's this extreme level of food processing,

so extreme that these foods are pre-digested,

that creates this entire category of food.

It's not that it's junk food,

it's not that it's prepackaged,

it's not that it's really high in sugar or calories,

the defining feature of ultra-processed food

is that you could not make it at home if you wanted to.

It's only possible for these foods to exist

because of modern food science.

To explain the point in a more tangible way,

let's think about the difference

between an apple and an apple pie,

but from McDonald's. (buoyant music)

Researchers split food into four groups

depending on their level of processing,

one, unprocessed or minimally processed foods,

two processed culinary ingredients,

three, processed foods and four, ultra-processed foods.

So one, unprocessed or minimally processed foods.

This group is pretty self-explanatory.

Apples belong to group one,

these are your whole foods with nothing added.

This level includes

all fresh, dry and frozen fruits and vegetables,

grains, meat, eggs, milk, fish, nuts, and seeds.

Group two refers to processed culinary ingredients

such as salt, sugar, butter, honey, olive oil or spices.

Now, group three refers to processed foods.

The term processing just means

that a food has undergone a change from its natural state.

This level includes canned food, cured meats, wine, cheese,

fresh bread, to use our apple example of applesauce,

canned apples or prepackaged apples

preserved with lemon juice.

So in group three, we usually have a food product

that's made up of almost all just real food,

it can be baked or boiled or preserved or canned

or fermented or mixed with other foods,

so it's important to note that processing itself is not bad,

it's when you take things too far.

And group four, ultra-processed food

is the definition of too far.

So here is the definition given for group four.

"Ultra-processed foods are formulations of ingredients,

mostly of exclusive industrial use, typically created

by a series of industrial techniques and processes."

So instead of food, it's industrial ingredients

that have been created

through a series of industrial techniques.

See what I'm saying?

This is the problem.

There's just not a lot of normal-ass food

in ultra-processed food.

And group four is where we find our McDonald's apple pie.

See, a homemade apple pie is only a level three food,

because yeah, it's got sugar and fat and whatever else,

but it's really just a combination

of regular old processed ingredients

you can find in any normal home or grocery store.

A McDonald's apple pie on the other hand

is a group four ultra-processed food,

because it's made up of a ton of industrial ingredients

created by a series of industrial techniques

and if we take a closer look

at the ingredients of the apple pie,

many of them are quite industrial sounding,

which clues us into the fact

that they must have been created through processes

similar to predigesting, as mentioned in our article.

Basic food crops such as corn, wheat and potatoes

are disassembled into their molecular parts,

starchy flours, protein isolates, fats and oils

or what manufacturers call slurries.

"The bulk of what is extracted is starch slurry,

a milky mixture of starch and water.

We've also extracted proteins and fibers,'

according to a video explanation of the process

from Starch Europe.

Roughly half of the starch slurry

goes to produce starch-based sugars and other derivatives.'

'Those are created by hydrolysis,

a process similar to human digestion.'

Next, with the help of artificial colorings,

flavorings and glue-like emulsifiers,

those slurries are then heated,

pounded, shaped, or extruded into any food

a manufacturer can dream up."

So food manufacturers rip real foods apart

down to the molecule, turn them into slurries of starches

and sugars and whatever else,

then combine these slurries

and powders with oils and emulsifiers

and from there they could remodel them

to seem exactly like the normal foods we know and love.

Take potato chips, for example, when they were invented,

they were just really thin slices of potatoes

that were fried and then serve.

If you have an air fryer,

you could easily make potato chips at home

with just three ingredients, a potato oil, and salt.

But let's compare that to a Pringle.

A plain Pringle contains dried potatoes, vegetable oil,

corn flour, corn starch, rice flour, sugars, maltodextrin,

mono and diglycerides, salt, citric acid and wheat starch.

I actually thought that was gonna be way worse than that,

but this is a plain Pringle,

so none of the seasoning is on it.

But let's investigate further.

So to start, dried potatoes are likely

not just whole ground potatoes,

but an incredibly fine potato flake

that's extracted in a similar process

to what the article has been discussing.

Then we have vegetable oil,

which have you ever wondered

exactly what vegetables go into vegetable oil?

The packaging on this one

shows tomato, celery, carrots and spinach.

But I was curious what exactly qualified as vegetable oil,

so I looked up the USDA definition of it.

So here are the requirements.

It says that, "Vegetable oil refers

to any refined, bleached, filtered and deodorized oil

and can consist of any one or a combination

of the following, canola, corn, cotton seed,

olive, safflower, soybean, sesame and sunflower."

Yeah, let's name a product, vegetable oil

and put vegetables on the container

that contains little to no actual vegetables.

And refining, bleaching and deodorizing

definitely all qualify as industrial processes.

Moving on, next we have corn flour, corn starch, rice flour,

sugars, maltodextrin and wheat starch.

So at least three of these

are these predigested slurries we just learned about.

So they turn those things into a paste

and then to bind them all together,

they add in the mono and triglycerides,

which are a type of oil emulsifier,

which is again created

through a sort of predigestion hydrolysis process as well.

Stick everything together and shape it up

into a perfectly stackable

potato, corn, rice, sugar, wheat chip

and the end result is something

that technically has components of real food,

but is nothing like any real food you've ever seen.

And again, the insane thing here

is a potato chip really only needs three ingredients,

but somehow with ultra-processing,

something so simple is turned into a Franken-food

with the sole purpose of maximizing profits.

And see, with the Pringle it's junk food,

so you're not exactly expecting it to win a prize

for the most wholesome ingredients.

But the problem with ultra-processed food is

they are everything now.

Much like the regurgitated food,

mother birds feed their babies in the nest,

ultra-processed food is quick and easy to digest

according to experts,

but that's not how the human digestive system

was meant to work.

"When food moves through the digestive system

in ways mother nature didn't intend,

the body loses the ability

to send a signal of fullness to the brain."

Said Dr. David Katz, a specialist

in preventative and lifestyle medicine.

Your body is expecting

to have to break down the nutrients in the food.

So when this process is already partially completed,

it's no wonder that people are so hungry.

It's no wonder that people are overeating.

It's no wonder that the obesity rate has been skyrocketing

since at least the eighties,

around the time that ultra-processed food entered

the food supply in an unprecedented way.

And it's not just that this food is making us hungry,

it's that this food is making us crave.

- It's so thin, crispy and cheesy,

and I just wanna keep eating it and eating it!

- Because when something is digested quickly,

it's not just hitting your body quickly,

it's hitting your brain quickly as well.

And in the world of addiction,

there is this important concept of rate of delivery.

The faster the drug hits your brain, the higher you get

and the more addictive the substance is.

"Add in just the right ratio of sugar, salt and fat

designed to tickle our taste buds

and an ultra-processed food

that's nearly irresistible is born."

Said Dr. Chris Van Tulleken,

author of, "Ultra-Processed People."

"it could be a pizza

if you put some cheese and tomato on top.

It could be a burger bun, it could be a grain bar,

a breakfast cereal, an ice cream, or confectionary.

They all have the same list of basic starting ingredients."

He said, "It's an illusion of food.

It's much cheaper for food companies to destroy real foods,

turn them into molecules and then reassemble those

to make anything they want."

And that is the problem right there,

we are all eating edible food-like products.

These foods are products first and foremost,

the only thing that they're designed to nourish

is a healthy profit margin.

And you see, the real problem

isn't that ultra-processed foods like Pringles exist at all,

the problem is what happens when the entire grocery store

is made up of foods that barely qualify as food

and most people have no idea that this is true,

most people have no idea that they are being tricked.

Like some sort of virus,

the ultra-processed food category has grown

to take over the entire grocery store.

Foods that you'd never expect

to be ultra-processed junk food products are.

It's one thing if people were knowingly buying junk food,

it's another thing to be purchasing a yogurt cup

for your kids that promises you that it's wholesome,

only for it to be nutritionally comparable

to an ice cream cone

and not an ice cream cone made of cream and sugar,

but an ice cream cone made of modified milk ingredients,

gums, and emulsifiers.

- Apparently this ice cream is so fake

that they can't even call it ice cream.

It's called a frozen dessert, instead.

- Nearly every food product we can consume now

is designed to be unsatisfying.

Let's think about the grocery store.

Obviously we have our junk food, our Honey Buns,

and Debbie Cakes and Cheetos and candy and whatever else,

but then we also most breads and not just Wonder Bread,

these are all ultra-processed too, nearly all cereals,

including probably 98% of the healthy cereals.

Most frozen dinners,

yes, including most of the healthy seeming ones.

Nearly every and any food directly marketed to children,

any non-dairy milk, most plant-based foods

and like 95% of everything

in the health and diet food aisle, including protein bars.

Estimates say 73% of the food supply in the United States

is made up of ultra-processed foods.

Eating ultra-processed food is the norm for us now

and we're still in the really early stages

of figuring out exactly what that's doing to us.

20 healthy volunteers were locked away

from the outside world for one month.

For two weeks, they ate only ultra-processed foods,

for the remaining two weeks,

they ate a diet made up of minimally processed foods.

"Each diet contained the exact same quantity of calories,

sugars, fiber, fat, salt and carbohydrates,

the only difference

was that one diet consisted only of foods

that were ultra-processed.

In two weeks, participants on the ultra-processed diet

gained an average of two pounds, 0.9 kilograms,

on the minimally processed diet,

they lost the equivalent amount of weight."

Now, obviously two pounds in two weeks is nothing crazy,

but think about what that might do to you

over the weeks or months or years

of just consuming the normal diet

that most people consume in society.

This is the norm.

On top of that, what makes the study so interesting

is that these diets were matched for composition.

So the participants eating the ultra-processed food

were eating the same amount

of protein, calories, sugars, et cetera,

as the group eating the minimally processed fresh meals.

And yet the ultra-processed food group were still hungrier.

They were still eating more calories.

Science is really starting to reveal

that it's not the lack of fiber,

it's not additional sugar,

it's the ultra-processed foods themselves

that are the problem.

There's something seriously strange

about the way our bodies are processing

these ultra-processed-foods.

They seem to be disregulating the checks and balances

our bodies have

to keep us from gaining excessive amounts of weight.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg

because it's not just about weight,

it's about overall health and metabolic health and more.

It's funny, as you scroll down through this article,

all the related links

to other ultra-processed food articles are so bad.

"Study finds growing evidence of link

between ultra-processed food and cancer."

"Artificially sweetened ultra-processed foods

linked to depression in women, study fines."

"Ultra-processed foods now account

for two thirds of calories

in the diets of children and teens."

"By fracking food much like we frack oil,

we have fully deconstructed the food matrix

and this is associated with many times higher risk

of chronic disease and early mortality

and a degradation of global health."

"Before the Second World War,

before we began using these new manufacturing processes,

we never observed such a high level

of chronic disease worldwide.

So the question is,

which degree of processing remains compatible

with human food system sustainability and global health?"

At this point, it's becoming extremely hard to ignore

how broken our food system is

and that's probably a good thing,

because things need to change and they need to change now.

The only reason that these foods are being broken down

and broken down so aggressively

is because it's highly profitable.

When you cook something yourself normally

using fresh ingredients, the quality of those ingredients

really kind of has a major impact

on the final flavor of the dish,

it makes or breaks it essentially

and if you had food companies competing

over the quality of their ingredients,

they wouldn't make any money.

You want a delicious tomato sauce

so you can sell the most pizza?

Well, then you've gotta let the tomato ripen

on the vine a little longer,

you have to care for the soil and fortify it,

you have to spend a little money on fresh herbs,

gotta care about the quality of the olive oil in the sauce.

All of these steps, they take time and they take money

and competing on quality is not the game

these guys are trying to play.

They'd much rather squeeze every last drop

out of the cheapest tomato they can find,

and then just inject a bland tomato paste

with tomato and herb flavor and MSG and sugar.

So your brain still enjoys the final product,

but you just can't put your finger on why.

But that fast rate of delivery

and all the other modifications they make

to the sensory properties of the food

to tickle your dopamine receptors,

stop you from ever realizing

that these foods actually taste just as disappointing

as you'd expect them to.

Well, most of them anyway,

some of them, they did do a good job, let's be real.

(Kiana laughing)

I find knowing this stuff really does fuel the desire

to just keep getting healthier and healthier and healthier,

so I hope it had the same effect on you.

Thanks so much for watching

and I'll see you in the next one.

(buoyant music)