Ultra-processed food is "low quality food".

That's because: (1) it's rich in toxins due to the industrial processing and (2) it has a poor proteins/nutrients to energy ratio.

Nutrient hunger is a thing. Proteins are regulated by the brain. Micro nutrients might be regulated by the brain as well. When you eat ultra-processed food, you end up eating more food just to get the nutrients you need to live.

Ultra-processed food is also rich in calories, often being high in carbs and high in fat at the same time, a very unnatural combination that floods the brain with dopamine, making you overeat and crave for more.

You basically can't get lower quality than this.

None of what you or the other comment say prove the claim that China (or Mexico) offer such limited nutritional choices that they are the cause of those health conditions, as opposed to unconstrained individual choice.

I'm not talking about China. I was just making an observation that "low quality food" is ultra-processed food. So if the Chinese are now eating ultra-processed food, like many of us in the US or Europe, then it's no wonder that obesity and diabetes is on the rise.

> "as opposed to unconstrained individual choice"

There's no such thing, you're not aware of many of the recent findings.

I recommend you go read: https://www.stephanguyenet.com/thehungrybrain/

What toxins are these and why are they bad? The liver is quite capable at removing actual toxins and using that terminology makes you sound like a quack.

(2) is a valid point, but (1) should be entirely prevented by the FDA.

Many additives and colorants used in US food are banned in Europe for example. I wouldn't go as far as to call them toxins but they're at the very least suspected to be a net negative for the human body.

But again à lot of it is a question of dosage. A bottle of coke a week might not do much, a bottle a day and it's a whole other story.

Heavy metals and various industrial chemicals for example:

"The most neglected threat to public health in China is toxic soil" -- https://www.economist.com/briefing/2017/06/08/the-most-negle... (2017)

All the things in their air and water (Quote from the article: "Wen Jiabao, a former prime minister, once said that water problems threaten “the very survival of the Chinese nation”.".

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-pollution-soil/chin...

- https://www.iisd.org/blog/toxic-soil-china

- https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/10949-C...