It’s interesting because we’ve been eating ultra processed foods since at least the 1970s, but only recently did the cancer numbers spike in young people. Stuff like Kraft Mac n cheese, hamburger helper, tuna helper, rice a roni have all been around for ages. What changed?
Lifestyles have changed. The recurring stereotype of the young these days must be some of them sitting in front of the computer or having a smartphone in their hands, constantly grinding for the next level, chugging soda and munching on delivered food.
Food is expensive. Fillers are cheap. The “food” turned into “food + filler”.
The food industry has changed a lot since GMOs and various Herbicides/Pesticides have entered the picture. Ultra processed foods are rife with modified foods so they can be sold at a lower cost. I would be surprised if this wasn’t part of the problem.
In the 70s and 80s parents were still able to be at home to make actual food for their children.
Since then, everyone is always on the run and everyone always relies on the cheapest fastest food that is available … ultra processed foods you can just pop in a microwave, heat and eat … or just plain old take out … and if you can’t afford decent take out, you buy the cheapest burger and fries you can find.
Do all that for 20 years and its a guarantee that you will have digestive issues later in life.
I have one friend who had a picky kid that he and his wife never really parented or seriously watched over. They were both busy with 9-5 jobs and they just let the kid do whatever he wanted from the time he was born. From the time he was toddler, all he ever demanded was fries and chicken nuggets - nothing but fries and chicken nuggets - always. I told them it was a bad idea and that it wasn’t good for the kid but its their family and all we could was watch. When the kid turned 11, they had to remove his gall bladder because of the bad diet and the kid has never had good health since.
Processed foods are also almost always loaded with sugar, even things you wouldn’t expect. Sugar is cheap, addictive and bad for your health in the quantities a lot of these foods contain, especially when consumed regularly.
From what I understand It’s also likely due to a lack of fiber that keeps everything moving throughout your system all nice like. Much of the processed foods have fiber taken out to make it more palatable. I personally started supplementing and I’ve been working more beans and fiber rich veggies into my daily life.
And the fact that a large portion (70% now apparently in the USA) is obese. Being obese increases cancer significantly, being seditary also increases cancer. They go hand in hand. The idea that it’s only the food is just another excuse for staying overweight.
You know, I wouldn’t be surprised whether we’ve been consistently eating or sparingly eating UPFs, that we’ll all get cancer or some health issue. We’re all gonna die from it one day or another.
Our environment is completely poisoned with man-made chemicals and plastics. Everyone has plastic, RoundUp, Teflon etc. in their bodies.
