Australia has some of highest consumption rates of ultra-processed foods, researchers say

The Lancet series outlines the ‘urgent, coordinated’ public policies and collective actions needed to address the growing impacts of ultra-processed foods. Photograph: Mizina/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Ultra-processed foods now make up nearly half of the average Australian’s diet because the country has “fallen behind international best practice” on nutrition, a co-author of a major new global report says.

A series published in leading medical journal the Lancet on Wednesday found ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are increasingly replacing healthy, whole-foods in diets and are a “key driver of the escalating global burden of multiple diet-related chronic diseases”.