– A hype, says an obesity expert – NRK Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio

“It is completely unacceptable that he speaks falsely about the research,” writes Kolby on his Instagram account, which has over 85,000 followers.

She points out that several hundred research articles have been published in recent years dealing with ultra-processed food.

Hjelmesæth is head of the Center for Morbid Obesity at Vestfold Hospital and head of the National Council for Nutrition (NRE).

Provoked over answer

Marit Kolby is a nutritional biologist and author of the bestseller “What and when to eat”, which has sold 55,000 copies. After the book was published last year, Kolby has set the agenda with new dietary advice.

Best known for a showdown with ultra-processed foods and snacks. Her main message is, in short: Eat whole foods. Not ultra-processed. Not too often.

She ends the post on Instagram with: “Several aggregate analyzes have also been published for cancer, diabetes type 2, cardiovascular disease, depression, obesity and premature death. Everyone links a lot of ultra-processed food to increased risk.”

– I almost have to wonder if the head of NRE is competent for the job?, she ends the post with.

Hjelmesæth has no comment on that.

It was in Wednesday’s episode of the podcast The Kåss Furuseths that Hjelmesæth and nutritionist Tine Sundfør answered questions from the audience about, among other things, diet pills, dietary advice and trends.

In the podcast, Hjelmesæth is asked about the importance of whole food. This is the answer that strongly provokes Kolby:

Think it’s a “hype”

Hjelmesæth tells NRK that the statement does not sound good.

– It was a bit sloppy, so to speak.

But the slimming expert still insists that ultra-processed food is a form of “hype”.

By that, he means that there is a lack of evidence for advice on avoiding ultra-processed food.

– Because there are a number of so-called association studies, i.e. where you see a connection between the consumption of what they call ultra-processed food and disease. But there is no evidence that it is important for the population to avoid or reduce the intake of ultra-processed food and that it can improve health, says Hjelmesæth.

– So there is a lack of scientific documentation for that, he adds.

A new direction

– We see a consistent pattern: those who eat the most ultra-processed food have a much higher risk of many different diseases and health problems, writes Kolby in an e-mail to NRK.

She means the new knowledge about the difference in quality, between a diet dominated by raw materials or extensively processed industrial food, overturns much of the traditional nutrition research.

The nutritional biologist believes that all the results from recent research point in the same direction.

– They advocate that we should increase our intake of raw materials and minimally processed food at the expense of ultra-processed food.

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