Chris van Tulleken doesn’t just pull back the curtain on the food industry—he rips it down and sets it on fire. Ultra-Processed People is equal parts fascinating and infuriating, a deep dive into how the modern food system was designed for profit, not nourishment. If you’ve ever struggled with weight, if you’ve ever wondered why grocery aisles feel like a science experiment, this book lays it all out. And spoiler: the deck isn’t just stacked against you—it was built that way from the ground up.

What makes this book stand out isn’t just the wealth of information, but how effortlessly van Tulleken delivers it. He’s not shouting from a soapbox; he’s explaining, with unsettling clarity, that corporations aren’t evil masterminds—they’re just doing what they were designed to do: maximize returns. The problem is, we’re the collateral damage.

It’s a book that doesn’t let you walk away unchanged. You start looking at ingredient lists differently, wondering if half of what you’ve been eating even qualifies as food. It won’t leave you feeling hopeful, but it will leave you armed with knowledge. And sometimes, that’s more powerful than hope. Five stars.