Ultra-Processed Food Is the New Tobacco—How Big Food Manipulates Science, Policy, & Your Cravings | Michael Pollan

Mark Hyman

Mar 5, 2025

Episode description

The modern food industry is built for profit, not health. Ultra-processed foods dominate grocery shelves, fueling the epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and chronic disease. But how did we get here? And what can we do to fix it? In this episode of The Dr. Hyman Show, I sit down with Michael Pollan, award-winning journalist and food activist, to break down the hidden forces shaping our food system and the urgent need for change.

In this powerful conversation, you’ll discover:

How a handful of corporations control our entire food supply—and why that’s a problem.
The shocking truth about ultra-processed foods and how they’re engineered to keep you hooked.
Why our food system collapsed during the pandemic and what it revealed about its fragility.
How food companies quietly buy up health brands and use misleading labels to keep consumers in the dark.
The role of policy and lobbying in keeping unhealthy food cheap and widely available.

Make sure to tune in—this is a conversation every American needs to hear.

View Show Notes From This Episode

Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman

This episode is brought to you by Seed, Sunlighten, Big Bold Health, PerfectAmino, and AirDoctor.

Seed is offering my community 25% off to try DS-01® for themselves. Visit seed.com/hyman and use code 25HYMAN for 25% off your first month of Seed's DS-01® Daily Synbiotic.

Visit sunlighten.com and save up to $1400 on your purchase with code HYMAN.

Try Big Bold Health's HTB Rejuvenate and get 25% off by going to bigboldhealth.com and use code DRMARK25 at checkout.

Get pure essential amino acids today. Go to bodyhealth.com and use HYMAN20 to get 20% off your first order.

Get cleaner air. Right now, you can get up to $300 off at airdoctorpro.com/drhyman.

Episode description

In this powerful conversation, you’ll discover:

How a handful of corporations control our entire food supply—and why that’s a problem.
The shocking truth about ultra-processed foods and how they’re engineered to keep you hooked.
Why our food system collapsed during the pandemic and what it revealed about its fragility.
How food companies quietly buy up health brands and use misleading labels to keep consumers in the dark.
The role of policy and lobbying in keeping unhealthy food cheap and widely available.

Make sure to tune in—this is a conversation every American needs to hear.

View Show Notes From This Episode

Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman

This episode is brought to you by Seed, Sunlighten, Big Bold Health, PerfectAmino, and AirDoctor.

Seed is offering my community 25% off to try DS-01® for themselves. Visit seed.com/hyman and use code 25HYMAN for 25% off your first month of Seed's DS-01® Daily Synbiotic.

Visit sunlighten.com and save up to $1400 on your purchase with code HYMAN.

Try Big Bold Health's HTB Rejuvenate and get 25% off by going to bigboldhealth.com and use code DRMARK25 at checkout.

Get pure essential amino acids today. Go to bodyhealth.com and use HYMAN20 to get 20% off your first order.

Get cleaner air. Right now, you can get up to $300 off at airdoctorpro.com/drhyman.

Mindsip insights from this episode:

Advocate for clear food labeling to combat ultra-processed foods

In Latin America, ultra-processed foods have powerful warning labels like skulls and crossbones, a stark contrast to the US.

#processed-food

Leverage Defense Production Act to prioritize profits over safety

Tyson Foods had President Trump invoke the Defense Production Act, normally for wartime, to force its meatpacking plants to remain open despite being COVID hotspots.

#risk

#safety

Challenge insurers to invest in prevention for long-term health

Health insurance companies don't invest in prevention because they only expect to keep a customer for one year, so there's no financial return on keeping them healthy long-term.

#healthcare

Identify ultra-processed foods by their factory-made ingredients

A simple way to identify ultra-processed food is if it's made with ingredients you don't have in your home kitchen and can't make without a factory.

#processed-food

Avoid glyphosate exposure from pre-harvest wheat spraying

Farmers often spray wheat fields with glyphosate (Roundup) immediately before harvest to dry the plants faster, meaning the weed killer is applied directly to the food.

#nutrition

#pesticide

Avoid ultra-processed plant-based meats for better health

Synthetic meats like the Impossible Burger are ultra-processed foods with over 20 ingredients, including novel ones like GMO soy-derived heme and methylcellulose, which is essentially wood pulp.

#plant-based

#processed-food

Ensure pharmaceutical-grade cleanliness in lab-grown meat production

Lab-grown meat is difficult to scale because the cell feedstock must be pharmaceutical-grade clean, as a single bacterium can contaminate and ruin an entire expensive batch.

#bacteria

#testing

Address dual food systems to reduce shortages and waste

The pandemic revealed the US has two separate food systems—one for consumers and one for institutions—that cannot easily interchange products, leading to simultaneous shortages and waste.