Ex-USFDA Chief Warns Ultraprocessed Foods as Big a Threat as Tobacco

• Former USFDA commissioner David Kessler warns ultraprocessed foods pose a threat comparable to or worse than tobacco.
• Kessler links 'energy-dense, highly palatable, rapidly absorbable' products to diabetes, fatty liver disease, and cardiovascular illness.
• Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. raises concerns about the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) regulatory loophole.
• FDA is revisiting the GRAS framework and broader food additive oversight, examining substances for current safety.
• Kessler argues ultraprocessed foods target brain reward circuits, causing metabolic havoc and contributing to disease.