Fitness and nutrition guru Jillian Michaels delivered a speech to Congress on an epidemic of chronic diseases linked to obesity that is affecting generations of Americans.
Her testimony, which received a standing ovation from audiences and members of Congress, denounced the companies behind ultra-processed foods (UPF) for promoting harmful products that have generated a wave of lasting health effects and triggered “an extinction-level event.”
UPFs have infiltrated every aisle of supermarkets across the country, including cookies, chips, frozen meals, salad dressings, bread and cheese.
They tend to be inexpensive and have eye-catching packaging, making them attractive to buyers on a budget.
But diets high in UPF have been linked to a long list of chronic diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, cancer (particularly breast and colorectal), digestive problems and cognitive decline.
Ms. Michaels’ passionate testimony took aim at the big corporations behind ultra-processed foods that have fueled an obesity epidemic that leads to chronic disease.
At a panel discussion hosted by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, Michaels was among several guests who shared their views on what is driving the rise in chronic disease across the United States.
In 2020, approximately 71.5 million Americans aged 50 or older suffered from at least one chronic disease. By 2050, this number will be It is projected to almost doubleincreasing by more than 99 percent to 143 million.
Ms Michaels said: “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I’ve seen my friends inject themselves with fertility drugs every day, praying they’d get pregnant. My friends getting up at dawn to have radiotherapy on the spot where they found the lump in their breast. My friends swallowing handfuls of pills to control their debilitating anxiety and depression.
“If this current trend is allowed to continue, the risks will become unsustainable. We are in the midst of a mass extinction event.”
Obesity, Michaels said, is the “default human condition in the 21st century… by design,” and is behind the wave of chronic disease afflicting Americans.
Currently, more than 42 percent of Americans are obese.
In 2020, approximately 71.5 million Americans aged 50 or older suffered from at least one chronic disease. By 2050, this number is projected to nearly double.
The epidemic is due to the historical cooperation between large pharmaceutical companies, food manufacturing giants and industrial agriculture, which uses pesticides, herbicides, preservatives and additives on the production line.
Taken together, Ms. Michaels argued, the mega-entities have betrayed the public trust by promoting products that have, as a result, fueled an epidemic of obesity and chronic disease.
She said: ‘It seemed unthinkable to question whether a corporation would poison us for profit (and) it was this betrayal of trust that allowed them to insidiously infiltrate every part of our lives.
‘These monstrous corporations have mastered the art of distorting research, influencing policy, buying the narrative, engineering the environment and manipulating consumer behavior.’
UPFs go through multiple stages of processing, adding more synthetic ingredients that have little nutritional benefit and can harm the body.
They also contain more artificial ingredients like coloring and dyes, which have been linked to conditions like hyperactivity and cancer.
There is also evidence showing that eating large amounts of overly processed foods can increase the risk of developing heart disease by 50 percent, according to a report published in the journal British Medical Journal.
Research also suggests that eating more UPF increases the risk of obesity by 55 percent, sleep disorders by 41 percent, type 2 diabetes by 40 percent and depression by 20 percent.
A diet rich in UPF also increases the risk of dying from any cause. A 2024 study, also published in the journal British Journal of Medicine They found that people who ate a diet consisting primarily of UPF had a four percent higher risk of death.
Additionally, they were nine percent more likely to die from neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, Parkinson’s, ALS and Huntington’s disease.
UPFs have also been shown to disrupt the balance of good and bad bacteria living in the gut.
Changes in the microbiome can include the growth of bacteria that promote inflammation, which can stimulate tumor growth, altering the metabolism so that it is less able to clear the gut of carcinogens, and impairing the immune system’s ability to detect and fight cancer cells.
Ms Michaels continued: ‘While I have been fortunate to save many from the brink, over my 30-year career I have lost as many, if not more, than I have saved.
“I have seen things slip through my fingers: mothers leaving their children orphaned, husbands leaving their wives widowed. I have even seen fathers forced to suffer the unthinkable loss of their adult children.
“They were literally sacrificed on the altar of unbridled corporate greed.”