Big Food is making more and more money with dietary supplements that promise to combat obesity, stress and menopause symptoms. However, nearly half of those claims violate EU advertising rules. Dietary supplements have become increasingly popular over the past 15 years. In 2024, 72 percent of Dutch people over the age of 17 were taking

Large food manufacturers are increasingly positioning themselves as ‘health companies’. But not by making their chocolate, sauces, and desserts less unhealthy —instead, they’re capitalizing on the rising demand for dietary supplements and medications caused by the very unhealthy food they continue to produce. Recent years have seen unprecedented investments in health products by food companies.

Medicines like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are popular weight-loss drugs. ‘Big Food’ sees users as a new outlet and is pushing cheesy factory pizzas, among other things, as a suitable complement to such a drug. Users of these weight-loss drugs consume 20 to 30 per cent fewer calories, are less prone to binge eating and

Food manufacturers earn from our propensity to eat unhealthily, and we pay with our health. With clever tricks, copied from the tobacco industry, they make their products irresistible. Fast food and ultra-processed foods dominate, while influencers drive sales. Food manufacturers worldwide use marketing tricks from the tobacco industry to get people addicted to processed. Lees

Nespresso promises with its quality mark sustainable coffee and better circumstances for the farmers and the environment. But, Columbian coffee farmers say otherwise. According to Nestlé, Nespresso’s quality mark guarantees sustainable coffee cultivation and social responsibility, but these promises do not keep stand everywhere. Some farmers on Columbian plantages use forbidden pesticides, work in unsafe circumstances

Five of the 10 largest producers of ultra-processed food on the European market are investing in products for diseases caused by unhealthy eating. Most investments date from after 2020. The investments in diabetes medicines and weight-loss products are part of a larger trend: more and more food producers have been investing in the health sector.