Cherries vs Blueberries – Which is Healthier?

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Our Verdict

When comparing cherries to blueberries, we picked the blueberries.

Why?

It was close! And blueberries only won by virtue of taking an average value for cherries; we could have (if you’ll pardon the phrase) cherry-picked tart cherries for extra benefits that’d put them ahead of blueberries. That’s how close it is.

In terms of macros, they are almost identical, so nothing to set them apart there.

In the category of vitamins, they are mostly comparable except that blueberries have a lot more vitamin K, and cherries have a lot more vitamin A. Since vitamin K is the vitamin that’s scarcer in general, we’ll call blueberries’ vitamin K content a win.

Blueberries do also have about 6x more vitamin E, with a cup of blueberries containing about 10% of the daily requirement (and cherries containing almost none). Another small win for blueberries.

When it comes to minerals, they are mostly comparable; the largest point of difference is that blueberries contain more manganese while cherries contain more copper; nothing to decide between them here.

We’re down to counting amino acids and antioxidants now, so blueberries have a lot more cystine and tyrosine. They also have slightly more of amino acids that they both only have trace amounts of. And as for antioxidants? Blueberries contain notably more quercetin.

So, blueberries win the day—but if we had specified tart cherries rather than taking an average, they could have come out on top. Enjoy both!

Want to learn more?

You might like to read:

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  • The Many Benefits Of Taking PQQ

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    We’re going to start this one by quoting directly from the journal “Current Research in Food Science”, because it provides a very convenient list of benefits for us to look at:

    • PQQ is a potent antioxidant that supports redox balance and mitochondrial function, vital for energy and health.
    • PQQ contributes to lipid metabolism regulation, indicating potential benefits for energy management.
    • PQQ supplementation is linked to weight control, improved insulin sensitivity, and may help prevent metabolic disorders.
    • PQQ may attenuate inflammation, bolster cognitive and cardiovascular health, and potentially assist in cancer therapies.

    Future research should investigate PQQ dosages, long-term outcomes, and its potential for metabolic and cognitive health. The translation of PQQ research into clinical practice could offer new strategies for managing metabolic disorders, enhancing cognitive health, and potentially extending lifespan.

    Source: Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (PQQ): Its impact on human health and potential benefits: PQQ: Human health impacts and benefits

    What is it?

    It’s a redox-active (and thus antioxidant) quinone molecule, and essential vitamin co-factor, that not only helps mitochondria to do their thing, but also supports the creation of new mitochondria.

    For more detail, you can read all about that here: Pyrroloquinoline Quinone, a Redox-Active o-Quinone, Stimulates Mitochondrial Biogenesis by Activating the SIRT1/PGC-1α Signaling Pathway

    It’s first and foremost made by bacteria, and/but it’s present in many foods, including kiwi fruit, spinach, celery, soybeans, human breast milk, and mouse breast milk.

    You may be wondering why “mouse breast milk” makes the list. The causal reason is simply that research scientists do a lot of work with mice, and so it was discovered. If you would argue it is not a food because it is breast milk from another species, then ask yourself if you would have said the same if it came from a cow or goat—only social convention makes it different!

    For any vegans reading: ok, you get a free pass on this one :p

    This information sourced from: Pyrroloquinoline Quinone: Its Profile, Effects on the Liver and Implications for Health and Disease Prevention

    On which note…

    Against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

    From the above-linked study:

    ❝Antioxidant supplementation can reverse hepatic steatosis, suggesting dietary antioxidants might have potential as therapeutics for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

    An extraordinarily potent dietary antioxidant is pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ). PQQ is a ubiquitous, natural, and essential bacterial cofactor found in soil, plants, and interstellar dust. The major source of PQQ in mammals is dietary; it is common in leafy vegetables, fruits, and legumes, especially soy, and is found in high concentrations in human and mouse breast milk.

    This chapter reviews chemical and biological properties enabling PQQ’s pleiotropic actions, which include modulating multiple signaling pathways directly (NF-κB, JNK, JAK-STAT) and indirectly (Wnt, Notch, Hedgehog, Akt) to improve liver pathophysiology. The role of PQQ in the microbiome is discussed, as PQQ-secreting probiotics ameliorate oxidative stress–induced injury systemwide. A limited number of human trials are summarized, showing safety and efficacy of PQQ

    …which is all certainly good to see.

    Source: Ibid.

    Against obesity

    And especially, against metabolic obesity, in other words, against the accumulation of visceral and hepatic fat, which are much much worse for the health than subcutaneous fat (that’s the fat you can physically squish and squeeze from the outside with your hands):

    ❝In addition to inhibiting lipogenesis, PQQ can increase mitochondria number and function, leading to improved lipid metabolism. Besides diet-induced obesity, PQQ ameliorates programing obesity of the offspring through maternal supplementation and alters gut microbiota, which reduces obesity risk.

    In obesity progression, PQQ mitigates mitochondrial dysfunction and obesity-associated inflammation, resulting in the amelioration of the progression of obesity co-morbidities, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, chronic kidney disease, and Type 2 diabetes.

    Overall, PQQ has great potential as an anti-obesity and preventive agent for obesity-related complications.❞

    Read in full: Pyrroloquinoline-quinone to reduce fat accumulation and ameliorate obesity progression

    Against aging

    This one’s particularly interesting, because…

    ❝PQQ’s modulation of lactate acid and perhaps other dehydrogenases enhance NAD+-dependent sirtuin activity, along with the sirtuin targets, such as PGC-1α, NRF-1, NRF-2 and TFAM; thus, mediating mitochondrial functions. Taken together, current observations suggest vitamin-like PQQ has strong potential as a potent therapeutic nutraceutical❞

    Read in full: Pyrroloquinoline-Quinone Is More Than an Antioxidant: A Vitamin-like Accessory Factor Important in Health and Disease Prevention

    If you’re not sure about what NAD+ is, you can read about it here: NAD+ Against Aging

    And if you’re not sure what sirtuins do, you can read about those here: Dr. Greger’s Anti-Aging Eight ← it’s at the bottom!

    Want to try some?

    As mentioned, it can be found in certain foods, but to guarantee getting enough, and/or if you’d simply like it in supplement form, here’s an example product on Amazon 😎

    Enjoy!

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  • Stop Tinnitus, & Improve Your Hearing By 130%

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    Caveat: this will depend on the cause of your tinnitus, but there’s a quick diagnostic test first, and it’s for the most common kind 🙂

    Step by step

    To address noise in the ears (tinnitus) and improve hearing, start by identifying whether the issue is treatable. The diagnostic tests are:

    1. First, turn your head to the side, tilt it forward and backward, and observe changes in the noise. If the intensity changes, then the noise can be managed.
    2. Additionally, open and close your mouth, clenching and unclenching your teeth, and note any variations; this is about muscular tension affecting hearing.
    3. Finally, tilt your head downward—if the noise increases, it may mean it is a venous outflow disorder—there’s a fix for this, too.

    Effective exercises focus on releasing tension and improving blood flow:

    1. Begin with the neck’s scalene muscles, located behind the sternocleidomastoid muscle.
    2. Massage these areas by moving your hands up and down and varying head positions slightly forward and backward.
    3. Repeat on both sides to enhance blood circulation and reduce auditory interference. Next, target the chewing muscles.
    4. Massage painful areas of the jaw and temporalis muscle in circular motions, working along and across the muscle fibers.
    5. Divide the temporalis muscle into sections and address each thoroughly to relieve tension and improve hearing.
    6. Mobilize the outer auditory passage by gently pulling the ear in all directions—starting with the earlobe, middle part, and upper ear.
    7. Focus on the cartilage above the lobe, moving it up and down to restore mobility and improve blood flow.

    These exercises should fix the most common kind of tinnitus, and improve hearing—you’ll know quickly whether it works for you or not. Regular practice is required for sustained results, though.

    For more on all this, plus visual demonstrations (e.g. how to find that temporalis muscle, etc), enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Tinnitus: Quieting The Unwanted Orchestra In Your Ears ← our main feature on this topic, with more things to try if this didn’t help!

    Take care!

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  • Keep Cellulite At Bay

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small 😎

    ❝Does anything actually get rid of cellulite? Nothing seems to❞

    Let’s get the bad news over with in one go:

    Nothing (that the scientific world currently knows of) can get rid of cellulite permanently, nor completely guard against it proactively. Which, given that it affects up to 98% of women to some degree, and often shows up not long after puberty (though it can appear at any time and often increases later in life), any pre-emptive health regime would need to be started as a child in any case.

    As with many things that predominantly affect women, the world of medicine isn’t entirely sure what causes it, let alone how to effectively treat it.

    Obviously hormones are implicated, namely estrogen.

    Obviously adiposity is implicated, because one can’t have dimples in one’s fat if one doesn’t have enough fat to dimple.

    Other hypothesized contributory factors include genetics, poor diet, inactivity, unhealthy lifestyle (in ways not previously mentioned, e.g. use of alcohol, tobacco, etc), accumulated toxins, and pregnancy.

    Here’s an old paper (from 2004); today’s reviews say pretty much the same thing, but we love how succinctly (albeit, somewhat depressingly) this abstract states how little we know and how little we can do:

    Cellulite: a review of its physiology and treatment

    However, all is not lost!

    There are some things that can affect how much cellulite we get, and there are some things that can reduce it, and even some things that can get rid of it completely—albeit temporarily.

    First, a quick refresher on what it actually is, physiologically speaking: cellulite occurs when connective tissue bands pull the skin down in places, where fat tissue has been able to squeeze through. One of the reasons it is hypothesized women get this more than men is because our fat is not merely different in distribution and overall percentage, but also in how the fat cells stack up; we generally have have of a vertical stacking structure going on, while men generally have a more horizontal structure. This means that it can be easier for ours to get moved about differently, causing the connective tissue to pull on the skin unevenly in places.

    With that in mind…

    Prevention is, as we say, probably impossible if your body is running on estrogen. However, those contributory factors we mentioned above? Most of those are modifiable, including these things that it is hypothesized can reduce it:

    Diet: as it seems to be worsened by inflammation (what isn’t?), an anti-inflammatory diet is recommended.

    Exercise: there are three things here: 1) exercises to improve circulation and thus the body’s ability to sort things out by itself 2) HIIT exercise to reduce body fat percentage, if one has a high enough starting body fat percentage for that to be a healthy goal 3) mobility exercises, to ensure our connective tissues are the right amount of mobile.

    Creams and lotions

    These reduce the superficial appearance of cellulite, without actually treating the thing itself. Mostly they are caffeine-based, which when used topically increases blood flow and works as a local diuretic, reducing the water content of the fat cells, diminishing the appearance of the cellulite by making each fat cell physically smaller (while still containing the same amount of fat, and it’ll bounce back in size as soon as the body can restore osmotic balance).

    Medical procedures

    There are too many of these to discuss them all separately, but they all work on the principle of breaking up the tough bands of connective tissue to eliminate the dimpling of cellulite.

    The methods they use vary from ultrasound to cryolipolysis to lasers to “vacuum-assisted precise tissue release”, which involves a suction pump and a multipronged robotic assembly with needles to administer anaesthetic as it goes and small blades to cut the connective tissues under the skin:

    Tissue Stabilized–Guided Subcision for the Treatment of Cellulite

    That last one definitely sounds like the least fun, but it’s also the only one that doesn’t take months to maybe see results.

    Cellulite can and almost certainly will come back after all of these.

    Home remedies

    Aside from at-home versions of the above (not the robots with vacuum pumps and needles and microblades, hopefully, but for example homemade caffeine creams), and of course diet and exercise which can be considered “home remedies”, there are two more things worth mentioning:

    Dry brushing: using a body brush to, as the name suggests, simply brush one’s skin. The “dry” aspect here is simply that it’s not done in the bath or shower; it’s done while dry. It can improve local circulation of blood and lymph, allowing for better detoxification and redistribution of needed bodily resources.

    Here’s an example dry brushing body brush on Amazon; this writer has one and hates it, but I’ve also tried with other kinds of brush and hate them too, so it seems to be a me thing rather than a brush thing, and I have desisted in trying, now. Maybe you will like it better; many people do.

    Self-massage: or massage by someone else, if that’s an option for you and you prefer. In this case, it works by a different mechanism than dry brushing; this time it’s working by the same principle as the medical techniques described in the previous section; it’s physically breaking down the toughened bits of connective tissue.

    Here’s an example wooden massage roller on Amazon; this writer has one and loves it; it’s sooooooo good. I got it as a matter of general maintenance for my fascia, but it’s also very good if I get a muscular pain now and again. As for cellulite, I personally get just a little cellulite sometimes (in the backs of my thighs), and whenever I use this regularly, it goes away for at least a while.

    A quick note in closing

    Cellulite is normal for women and is not unhealthy. Much like gray hair for example, it’s something that can be increased by poor health, but the thing itself isn’t intrinsically unhealthy, and most of us get it to some degree at some point.

    Nevertheless, aesthetic factors can also have a role to play in mental health, and we tend to feel best when we like the way our body looks. If for you that means wanting less/no cellulite, then the above are some ways towards that.

    As a bonus, most of the nonmedical options are directly good for the physical health anyway, so doing them is of course good.

    In particular that last one (the wooden massage roller), because that connective tissue we talked about? It matters for a lot more than just cellulite, and is heavily implicated in a lot of kinds of chronic pain, so it pays to keep it in good health:

    Fascia: Why (And How) You Should Take Care Of Yours

    (that article, also written by this same writer by the way, suggests a vibrating foam roller—those are very popular; I just really love my wooden one, and find it more effective)

    Take care!

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Related Posts

  • Cilantro vs Parsley – Which is Healthier?
  • How do I handle it if my parent is refusing aged care? 4 things to consider

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s a shock when we realise our parents aren’t managing well at home.

    Perhaps the house and garden are looking more chaotic, and Mum or Dad are relying more on snacks than nutritious meals. Maybe their grooming or hygiene has declined markedly, they are socially isolated or not doing the things they used to enjoy. They may be losing weight, have had a fall, aren’t managing their medications correctly, and are at risk of getting scammed.

    You’re worried and you want them to be safe and healthy. You’ve tried to talk to them about aged care but been met with swift refusal and an indignant declaration “I don’t need help – everything is fine!” Now what?

    Here are four things to consider.

    1. Start with more help at home

    Getting help and support at home can help keep Mum or Dad well and comfortable without them needing to move.

    Consider drawing up a roster of family and friends visiting to help with shopping, cleaning and outings. You can also use home aged care services – or a combination of both.

    Government subsidised home care services provide from one to 13 hours of care a week. You can get more help if you are a veteran or are able to pay privately. You can take advantage of things like rehabilitation, fall risk-reduction programs, personal alarms, stove automatic switch-offs and other technology aimed at increasing safety.

    Call My Aged Care to discuss your options.

    An older man with a serious expression on his face looks out a window.
    Is Mum or Dad OK at home?
    Nadino/Shutterstock

    2. Be prepared for multiple conversations

    Getting Mum or Dad to accept paid help can be tricky. Many families often have multiple conversations around aged care before a decision is made.

    Ideally, the older person feels supported rather than attacked during these conversations.

    Some families have a meeting, so everyone is coming together to help. In other families, certain family members or friends might be better placed to have these conversations – perhaps the daughter with the health background, or the auntie or GP who Mum trusts more to provide good advice.

    Mum or Dad’s main emotional support person should try to maintain their relationship. It’s OK to get someone else (like the GP, the hospital or an adult child) to play “bad cop”, while a different person (such as the older person’s spouse, or a different adult child) plays “good cop”.

    3. Understand the options when help at home isn’t enough

    If you have maximised home support and it’s not enough, or if the hospital won’t discharge Mum or Dad without extensive supports, then you may be considering a nursing home (also known as residential aged care in Australia).

    Every person has a legal right to choose where we live (unless they have lost capacity to make that decision).

    This means families can’t put Mum or Dad into residential aged care against their will. Every person also has the right to choose to take risks. People can choose to continue to live at home, even if it means they might not get help immediately if they fall, or eat poorly. We should respect Mum or Dad’s decisions, even if we disagree with them. Researchers call this “dignity of risk”.

    It’s important to understand Mum or Dad’s point of view. Listen to them. Try to figure out what they are feeling, and what they are worried might happen (which might not be rational).

    Try to understand what’s really important to their quality of life. Is it the dog, having privacy in their safe space, seeing grandchildren and friends, or something else?

    Older people are often understandably concerned about losing independence, losing control, and having strangers in their personal space.

    Sometimes families prioritise physical health over psychological wellbeing. But we need to consider both when considering nursing home admission.

    Research suggests going into a nursing home temporarily increases loneliness, risk of depression and anxiety, and sense of losing control.

    Mum and Dad should be involved in the decision-making process about where they live, and when they might move.

    Some families start looking “just in case” as it often takes some time to find the right nursing home and there can be a wait.

    After you have your top two or three choices, take Mum or Dad to visit them. If this is not possible, take pictures of the rooms, the public areas in the nursing home, the menu and the activities schedule.

    We should give Mum or Dad information about their options and risks so they can make informed (and hopefully better) decisions.

    For instance, if they visit a nursing home and the manager says they can go on outings whenever they want, this might dispel a belief they are “locked up”.

    Having one or two weeks “respite” in a home may let them try it out before making the big decision about staying permanently. And if they find the place unacceptable, they can try another nursing home instead.

    An older Asian woman sits with her daughter.
    You might need to have multiple conversations about aged care.
    CGN089/Shutterstock

    4. Understand the options if a parent has lost capacity to make decisions

    If Mum or Dad have lost capacity to choose where they live, family may be able to make that decision in their best interests.

    If it’s not clear whether a person has capacity to make a particular decision, a medical practitioner can assess for that capacity.

    Mum or Dad may have appointed an enduring guardian to make decisions about their health and lifestyle decisions when they are not able to.

    An enduring guardian can make the decision that the person should live in residential aged care, if the person no longer has the capacity to make that decision themselves.

    If Mum or Dad didn’t appoint an enduring guardian, and have lost capacity, then a court or tribunal can appoint that person a private guardian (usually a family member, close friend or unpaid carer).

    If no such person is available to act as private guardian, a public official may be appointed as public guardian.

    Deal with your own feelings

    Families often feel guilt and grief during the decision-making and transition process.

    Families need to act in the best interest of Mum or Dad, but also balance other caring responsibilities, financial priorities and their own wellbeing.The Conversation

    Lee-Fay Low, Professor in Ageing and Health, University of Sydney

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Screaming at Screens?

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    I Screen, You Screen, We All Screen For…?

    Dr. Kathryn Birkenbach is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University, and Manager of Research at Early Medical in New York.

    Kathryn has things to tell us about kids’ neurological development, and screen time spent with electronic devices including phones, tablets, computers, and TVs.

    From the 1960s criticism of “the gogglebox” to the modern-day critiques of “iPad babies” as a watchword of parental neglect, there’s plenty people can say against screen time, but Dr. Birkenbach tells us the that the reality is more nuanced:

    Context Is Key

    On a positive note”: consistent exposure to age-appropriate educational material results in quicker language acquisition than media that’s purely for entertainment purposes, or not age-appropriate.

    Contrary to popular belief, children do not in fact learn by osmosis!

    Interaction Is Far More Valuable Than Inaction

    Kathryn advises that while adults tend to quite easily grasp things from instructional videos, the same does not go for small children.

    This means that a lot of educational programming can be beneficial to small children if and only if there is an adult with them to help translate the visual into the practical!

    There’s a story that does the rounds on the Internet: a young boy wanted to train his puppy, but didn’t know how. He asked, and was told “search for puppy training on YouTube”. His parents came back later and found him with his iPad, earnestly showing the training videos to the puppy.

    We can laugh at the child’s naïvety, knowing that’s not how it works and the puppy will not learn that way, so why make the same mistake in turn?

    ❝The phenomenon known as the “video deficit effect” can be overcome, when an on-screen guide interacts with the child or a parent is physically present and draws the child’s attention to relevant information.

    In other words, interaction with others appears to enhance the perceived salience of on-screen information, unlocking a child’s ability to learn from a medium which would otherwise offer no real-world benefit.

    Screens Can Supplement, But Can’t Replace, Live Learning & Play

    Sci-fi may show us “education pods” in which children learn all they need to from their screen… but according to our most up-to-date science, Dr. Birkenbach says, that simply would not work at all.

    Screen time without adult interactions will typically fail to provide small children any benefit.

    There is one thing it’s good at, though… attracting and keeping attention.

    Thus, even a mere background presence of a TV show in the room will tend to actively reduce the time a small child spends on other activities, including live learning and exploratory play.

    The attention-grabbing abilities of TV shows don’t stop at children, though! Adult caregivers will also tend to engage in fewer interactions with their children… and the interactions will be shorter and of lower quality.

    In Summary:

    • Young children will tend not to learn from non-interactive screen time
    • Interactive screen time, ideally with a caregiver, can be educational
    • Interactive screen time, not with a carer, can be beneficial (but a weak substitute)
      • Interactive screen time refers to shows such as Dora The Explorer, where Dora directly addresses the viewer and asks questions…But it’s reliant on the child caring to answer!
      • It can also mean interactive educational apps, provided the child does consciously interact!
      • Randomly pressing things is not conscious interaction! The key here is engaging with it intelligently and thoughtfully
    • A screen will take a child’s time and attention away from non-screen things: that’s a genuine measurable loss to their development!

    Absolute Bottom Line:

    Screens can be of benefit to small children, if and only if the material is:

    • Age-Appropriate
    • Educational
    • Interactive

    If it’s missing one of those three, it’ll be of little to no benefit, and can even harm, as it reduces the time spent on more beneficial activities.

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  • Junk Food Turns Public Villain as Power Shifts in Washington

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    The new Trump administration could be coming for your snacks.

    For years, the federal government has steered clear of regulating junk food, fast food, and ultra-processed food.

    Now attitudes are changing. Some members of President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle are gearing up to battle “Big Food,” or the companies that make most of the food and beverages consumed in the United States. Nominees for top health agencies are taking aim at ultra-processed foods that account for an estimated 70% of the nation’s food supply. Based on recent statements, a variety of potential politically charged policy options to regulate ultra-processed food may land on the Trump team menu, including warning labels, changes to agribusiness subsidies, and limits on which products consumers can buy with government food aid.

    The push to reform the American diet is being driven largely by conservatives who have taken up the cause that has long been a darling of the left. Trump supporters such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose controversial nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services still faces Senate confirmation, are embracing a concept that champions natural foods and alternative medicine. It’s a movement they’ve dubbed “MAHA,” or Make America Healthy Again. Their interest has created momentum because their goals have fairly broad bipartisan support even amid a bitterly divided Congress in which lawmakers from both sides of the aisle focused on the issue last year.

    It’s likely to be a pitched battle because the food industry wields immense political influence and has successfully thwarted previous efforts to regulate its products or marketing. The category of “food processing and sales companies,” which includes Tyson Foods and Nestle SA, tallied $26.7 million in spending on lobbying in 2024, according to OpenSecrets. That’s up from almost $10 million in 1998.

    “They have been absolutely instrumental and highly, highly successful at delaying any regulatory effectiveness in America,” said Laura Schmidt, a health policy professor at the University of California-San Francisco. “It really does feel like there needs to be a moment of reckoning here where people start asking the question, ‘Why do we have to live like this?’”

    Ultra-processed food” is a widely used term that means different things to different people and is used to describe items ranging from sodas to many frozen meals. These products often contain added fats, starches, and sugars, among other things. Researchers say consumption of ultra-processed foods is linked — in varying levels of intensity — to chronic conditions like diabetes, cancer, mental health problems, and early death.

    Nutrition and health leaders are optimistic that a reckoning is already underway. Kennedy has pledged to remove processed foods from school lunches, restrict certain food additives such as dyes in cereal, and shift federal agricultural subsidies away from commodity crops widely used in ultra-processed foods.

    The intensifying focus in Washington has triggered a new level of interest on the legal front as lawyers explore cases to take on major foodmakers for selling products they say result in chronic disease.

    Bryce Martinez, now 18, filed a lawsuit in December against almost a dozen foodmakers such as Kraft Heinz, The Coca-Cola Co., and Nestle USA. He developed diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by age 16, and is seeking to hold them accountable for his illnesses. According to the suit, filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the companies knew or should have known ultra-processed foods were harmful and addictive.

    The lawsuit noted that Martinez grew up eating heavily advertised, brand-name foods that are staples of the American diet — sugary soft drinks, Cheerios and Lucky Charms, Skittles and Snickers, frozen and packaged dinners, just to name a few.

    Nestle, Coca-Cola, and Kraft Heinz didn’t return emails seeking comment for this article. The Consumer Brands Association, a trade association for makers of consumer packaged goods, disputed the allegations.

    “Attempting to classify foods as unhealthy simply because they are processed, or demonizing food by ignoring its full nutrient content, misleads consumers and exacerbates health disparities,” said Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy, in a statement.

    Other law firms are on the hunt for children or adults who believe they were harmed by consuming ultra-processed foods, increasing the likelihood of lawsuits.

    One Indiana personal injury firm says on its website that “we are actively investigating ultra processed food (UPF) cases.” Trial attorneys in Texas also are looking into possible legal action against the federal regulators they say have failed to police ultra-processed foods.

    “If you or your child have suffered health problems that your doctor has linked directly to the consumption of ultra-processed foods, we want to hear your story,” they say on their website.

    Meanwhile, the FDA on Jan. 14 announced it is proposing to require a front-of-package label to appear on most packaged foods to make information about a food’s saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar content easily visible to consumers.

    And on Capitol Hill, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) are sounding the alarm over ultra-processed food. Sanders introduced legislation in 2024 that could lead to a federal ban on junk food advertising to children, a national education campaign, and labels on ultra-processed foods that say the products aren’t recommended for children. Booker cosigned the legislation along with Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.).

    The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a December hearing examining links between ultra-processed food and chronic disease during which FDA Commissioner Robert Califf called for more funding for research.

    Food companies have tapped into “the same neural circuits that are involved in opioid addiction,” Califf said at the hearing.

    Sanders, who presided over the hearing, said there’s “growing evidence” that “these foods are deliberately designed to be addictive,” and he asserted that ultra-processed foods have driven epidemics of diabetes and obesity, and hundreds of billions of dollars in medical expenses.

    Research on food and addiction “has accumulated to the point where it’s reached a critical mass,” said Kelly Brownell, an emeritus professor at Stanford who is one of the editors of a scholarly handbook on the subject.

    Attacks from three sides — lawyers, Congress, and the incoming Trump administration, all seemingly interested in taking up the fight — could lead to enough pressure to challenge Big Food and possibly spur better health outcomes in the U.S., which has the lowest life expectancy among high-income countries.

    “Maybe getting rid of highly processed foods in some things could actually flip the switch pretty quickly in changing the percentage of the American public that are obese,” said Robert Redfield, a virologist who led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the previous Trump administration, in remarks at a December event hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

    Claims that Big Food knowingly manufactured and sold addictive and harmful products resemble the claims leveled against Big Tobacco before the landmark $206 billion settlement was reached in 1998.

    “These companies allegedly use the tobacco industry’s playbook to target children, especially Black and Hispanic children, with integrated marketing tie-ins with cartoons, toys, and games, along with social media advertising,” Rene Rocha, one of the lawyers at Morgan & Morgan representing Martinez, told KFF Health News.

    The 148-page Martinez lawsuit against foodmakers draws from documents made public in litigation against tobacco companies that owned some of the biggest brands in the food industry.

    Similar allegations were made against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers before they agreed to pay tens of billions of dollars in a 2021 settlement with states.

    The FDA ultimately put restrictions on the labeling and marketing of tobacco, and the opioid epidemic led to legislation that increased access to lifesaving medications to treat addiction.

    But the Trump administration’s zeal in taking on Big Food may face unique challenges.

    The ability of the FDA to impose regulation is hampered in part by funding. While the agency’s drug division collects industry user fees, its division of food relies on a more limited budget determined by Congress.

    Change can take time because the agency moves at what some critics call a glacial pace. Last year, the FDA revoked a regulation allowing brominated vegetable oil in food products. The agency determined in 1970 that the additive was not generally recognized as safe.

    Efforts to curtail the marketing of ultra-processed food could spur lawsuits alleging that any restrictions violate commercial speech protected by the First Amendment. And Kennedy — if he is confirmed as HHS secretary — may struggle to get support from a Republican-led Congress that champions less federal regulation and a president-elect who during his previous term served fast food in the White House.

    “The question is, will RFK be able to make a difference?” said David L. Katz, a doctor who founded True Health Initiative, a nonprofit group that combats public health misinformation. “No prior administration has done much in this space, and RFK is linked to a particularly anti-regulatory administration.”

    Meanwhile, the U.S. population is recognized as among the most obese in the world and has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions among high-income countries.

    “There is a big grassroots effort out there because of how sick we are,” said Jerold Mande, who served as deputy undersecretary for food safety at the Department of Agriculture from 2009 to 2011. “A big part of it is people shouldn’t be this sick this young in their lives. You’re lucky if you get to 18 without a chronic disease. It’s remarkable.”

    KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

    Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.

    This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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