If you were hooked on Dr Chris van Tulleken’s fascinating (and slightly panic-inducing) book Ultra-Processed People, then buckle up because he’s back with more. This time, it’s on-screen with a brand-new documentary: Irresistible – Why We Can’t Stop Eating, hitting BBC Two tonight.
What is Dr Chris van Tulleken’s documentary about?
Without giving too much away, Dr Chris van Tulleken’s BBC documentary, Irresistible – Why We Can’t Stop Eating, is an hour-long deep dive into what makes ultra-processed foods so, well, irresistible.
With ultra-processed foods (UPFs) now making up about 60 per cent of the calories consumed in the average UK diet, it seems no matter how many scientific studies spell out the risks of consuming too many UPFs (FYI they’ve been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, weight gain, cancer, and even mortality), we just can’t get enough.
In Dr Chris van Tulleken’s documentary, he asks: why?
Why are we so hooked? Do we have no willpower? And can we really change the way we eat?
What you’ll learn in Irresistible – Why We Can’t Stop Eating
In the documentary, Dr van Tulleken interviews former food industry insiders who spill the beans on how popular foods have been designed to be irresistible.
Professor Francis McGlone, former neuroscientist for Unilever (who looks after brands like Ben & Jerry’s), explains how he introduced brain-scanning tech to figure out exactly how to trigger our brain’s reward system with ice cream. While Howard Moskowitz, a food scientist who was hired by Campbell’s Soup in the 70s to make their food more appealing, explains his ‘bliss point’ theory – that perfect combination of sugar, salt, and fat designed to make food utterly irresistible.
The documentary also touches on why cheesy puffs dissolve in your mouth (it’s no accident, by the way). It’s called ‘vanishing caloric density’ – where your brain is tricked into thinking you’re eating fewer calories than you actually are. And how Pringles – whose slogan was famously, ‘Once you pop, you can’t stop’ – have been crafted to slide perfectly into your mouth. As Dr van Tulleken bluntly puts it: ‘None of this is accidental.’
How to watch
Irresistible – Why We Can’t Stop Eating airs tonight at 9pm on BBC Two. Not around? No worries – it’ll also be available on BBC iPlayer.
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