"Toxic synthetic chemicals that migrate into ultra-processed foods from packaging, processing equipment and other sources may explain why these foods are so bad for our health, according to a new review article.

In addition to the foods’ poor nutritional value, these chemicals represent an “underappreciated and understudied” explanation for the link between ultra-processed foods and health problems such as obesity and other chronic diseases, the authors conclude in the article, published Friday in the journal Nature Medicine.

“The more (ultra-)processed a foodstuff, the greater its burden of synthetic chemicals generally is,” the authors wrote."

Shannon Kelleher reports for The New Lede May 16, 2025. [2]