[Series] Towards unified global action on ultra-processed foods: understanding commercial determinants, countering corporate power, and mobilising a public health response

The rise of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in human diets is harming global public health. However, policy responses are still emerging—much like tobacco control efforts decades ago—indicating the need to understand root causes and accelerate global action. This paper, the third in a three-part Lancet Series, takes several steps to advance knowledge of these causes, and to inform a global public health response. First, we show that the UPF industry is a key driver of the problem, as its leading corporations and co-dependent actors have expanded and restructured food systems almost everywhere, in favour of ultra-processed diets.