Designed for Addiction: Ban Ultra-Processed Food From Schools

Most of the food Americans eat, 73 percent of the U.S. food supply, is ultra-processed. More than half of the food children eat is ultra-processed.

Ultra-processed food is making people sick. Diet-related disease kills more people than smoking globally. The connection to type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer is well established.

We need states to act because there are no federal regulations for school meals concerning the level of processing or the use of synthetic additives like colors, flavors, sweeteners, or emulsifiers.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Your State Legislators to Ban Ultra-Processed Food From Schools!

Ultra-processed foods are laced with carcinogenic food colorings and obesogens, chemicals that alter metabolism and train the body to store fat. Add in high-fructose corn syrup, zero-calorie artificial sweeteners, refined pre-digested carbs, and synthetic emulsifiers that spike blood sugar, promote inflammation, and short-circuit the satiety hormones that tell you when you're full, and you have a product engineered to make people overeat.

When cigarette smoking was restricted in the 1980s and 90s, Big Tobacco bought up food brands and applied the same logic they'd used on smokers: the faster a substance delivers its hit, the more addictive it becomes. They built that into the food. Lunchables wasn't an accident. Ultra-processed foods are now as addictive as cigarettes.

Legislators in 28 states are working to define or restrict ultra-processed food or ingredients, with Arizona and California passing the first laws targeting school meals.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Your State Legislators to Ban Ultra-Processed Food From Schools!

Wondering what's actually in the food you're eating? Check the Environmental Working Group's Food Scores.

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*SAMPLE LETTER TO YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS*

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Dear [State Legislator],

Please work to ban ultra-processed foods from our state, starting with baby foods and school meals.

Scientists now know why Americans have gotten so sick. It isn't the amount of fat, salt, or sugar in our food. When food is natural and minimally processed, our bodies know not to eat too much. It's the chemicals and the way food has been processed that make people overeat.

Ultra-processed foods are nutritionally hollow and stuffed with refined, pre-digested carbs. They spike blood sugar, damage the gut, and short-circuit the satiety hormones that tell you when you're full.

The following specific ingredients should be banned:

carcinogenic food colorings
obesogens, chemicals that alter metabolism and cause the body to store fat
high-fructose corn syrup
zero-calorie artificial sweeteners
chemically extracted oils
synthetic emulsifiers

Please introduce or support legislation to get ultra-processed foods out of our state, beginning by removing the most toxic ingredients from baby foods and school meals.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent public health problem.

[Your Name]

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