The ultra processed foods are a major problem nowadays everywhere, because food companies produce a lot of this kind of foods which are very palatable, very cheap, and they can stay on the shelf for forever. And the children love these kind of foods because they’re very tasty. It is very important to stay away from actual processed foods and follow what the traditional Mediterranean diet or the Cretan diet embraced: foods that come from the land and are minimally processed, not white grains, a lot of olive oil, fruits from your backyard and moderate amount of dairy products. We have to promote eating healthy plant based foods rather than ultra processed foods, even if they are so called plant-based.

Frank Hu
nutrition and diabetes researcher