But in my view, that is missing the point. Some aspects of the food environment in New Zealand, as in many other countries, have become detrimental to the nation’s health. A series of three papers published in The Lancet, a medical journal, in 2025 reviewed the evidence about the increase in Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs) in diets globally and found that UPFs are displacing long-established diets centred on whole foods and that this pattern increases the risk of multiple diet-related chronic diseases. Research published in Nutrients in 2020 reviewed 43 studies and found 37 of them linked UPF exposure with at least one adverse health outcome. These included overweight, obesity and cardio-metabolic risks; cancer, type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases; irritable bowel syndrome, depression and frailty conditions.
The increasing dominance of UPFs isn’t surprising. UPFs tend to be highly profitable, made from cheap ingredients using industrial methods, contain a lot of sugar, salt, fat and additives which make them highly palatable, and are heavily promoted by food companies. UPFs are usually cheap and convenient to prepare for eating so they make economic sense for households short on time or money. They also tend to have long-shelf lives which makes them easier to store and transport, and reduces wastage at retail outlets and in households.
There hasn’t been a nutrition survey in New Zealand for many years, so we don’t have hard figures on UPF consumption. Professor Swinburn, who authored one of the three papers published in The Lancet and who is co-chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa, estimates that UPFs make up 50%-60% of the nation’s diet. On the flip side, based on findings from the New Zealand Health Survey, the Ministry of Health reports that in the year to June 2025, just 4.2% of adults aged 15+ met their recommended daily fruit and vegetable intake.
It’s worth bearing in mind that UPF covers a broad range of processed foods and not all UPFs lead to poor health outcomes. Many, such as wholemeal and seeded bread, baked beans, fortified plant milks, yogurts, wholegrain breakfast cereals, and hummus provide essential nutrients such as fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Some public health nutrition scientists prefer to focus on the use of industrial-trans fats, sugar content and salt content of packaged foods.
