EU health chiefs have warned studies on ultra-processed foods claiming they can be seriously damaging your health, should be ‘considered with caution’.

There are ‘uncertainties’ over the data in the studies and the ‘usefulness’ of the term ultra-processed foods, the EU-funded European Food Information Council said.

The warning was issued following two studies published this week linking ultra-processed foods, which are those containing preservatives, sweeteners and artificial colours, to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. 

But British dieticians said the term ultra-processed is being ‘demonised’, ‘overused’ and ‘not explained well’, causing unnecessary confusion and worry among members of the public.

They told MailOnline they want UK health chiefs to issue a similar clarification to soothe public fears.

One, Dr Duane Mellor, said the recent hyper-focus on ultra-processed food (UPFs) was unhelpful and British health authorities should step-in to clear the confusion.  

‘They need to explain carefully and clearly that the term Ultra Processed Foods, is getting a lot of attention at the minute, but it is possibly being overused, and not explained well,’ he said.

While he acknowledged the food industry needed to use processing methods that produced healthier food, the panic over UPFs wasn’t helping. 

‘We need a food system which supports our health, but by getting consumers to worry or not worry about UPF is not tackling that issue,’ he said. 

He added that avoiding ultra-processed foods is not helpful for some people, for example, those with poor appetite or illness who need to consume nutritional supplements while they recover.

Instead, he suggested providing advice on what we should be eating more of such as fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds which have been consistently shown to be associated with a decreased risk of heart disease.

Dr Mellor also stressed that we need to understand what we are eating so we ‘don’t falsely demonise all food ingredients’.

For example, although he admitted sweeteners may have ‘a modest effect on how are bodies work’, they can be used as a way of reducing sugar intake, which can help people avoid problems like obesity and diabetes. 

Other chemicals used in ultra-processed foods such as emulsifiers can change gut health.

Dr Mellor said: ‘Emulsifiers are a wide range of compounds from synthetic compounds such as polysorbate-80 which has been linked to alterations in gut health through to lecithin which contains choline which has been shown in some circumstances to be beneficial to health.

‘We need an open conversation about additives and understand that about these effects.’

Another expert, Professor Gunter Kuhnle, does not think we need a warning against ultra-processed foods, instead he wants to see more research.

The food scientist, based at Reading University, said there is currently no reason to worry people over ultra-processed food.

He explained that some ultra-processed foods such as soft drinks are associated with increased risks, but with other foods such as massed produced wholegrain bread, it shows a reduced risk for some diseases.

He said: ‘Such a warning would achieve little but create uncertainty among consumers – there is already confusion about the distinction between processed and ultra-processed foods.

‘The additives have been assessed by many different agencies and found to be safe in the amount consumed.

‘If there are data that suggest otherwise and have not been reviewed, they should be sent to EFSA and FSA so they can assess them.’

However, some doctors are calling for warning labels to be slapped on ultra-processed foods due to the dangers it poses to our health.

Dr Chris van Tulleken told MailOnline the new studies added weight to calls for a warning label system in the UK to ward people away from eating them. 

Last year, the biggest story at the Venice Film Festival was the blink-and-you-miss-it visit by actress Florence Pugh, and the beef with director Olivia Wilde which lay behind it.

And this year, the biggest star attending is going to ‘pull a Pugh’ by attending Venice so briefly that he won’t even stay the night.

Two-time Oscar nominee Adam Driver, 39, has agreed to show up to promote the movie Ferrari, in which he stars.

However there is such nervousness about being seen to ‘break’ the actors and writers strikes that – even though the film has earned an exemption – he won’t be hanging around.

Driver will be flying from Paris to Venice on a private jet in the morning of Thursday 31st, going up the red carpet in the late afternoon, and flying back again to the Hotel Bristol in Paris that same day.

It’s not yet clear whether he will do any promotional interviews or a press conference before the red carpet. Sources say that he is thinking of making some kind of strike-supporting speech at some point, but details are scarce.

Sources also say that Driver is planning to wear a t-shirt in support of the strikes under his tuxedo.

Co-star Penelope Cruz is now thinking hard about her own outfit options as a result. She is a long-term ambassador of the fashion brand Chanel. 

Nobody in Hollywood wants to be seen doing the wrong thing by the strikers and the whole film and TV industry has ground to a complete stop. 

The writers union, the WGA, went on strike on May 2nd, and were followed by SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, on July 14th.

Ferrari actors (and writers) can attend with out breaking the strikes as the film has been given an exemption because it was made by an independent, Neon, not a studio.

The stars of the film Priscilla, about Priscilla Presley’s life, can also attend without breaking the strike as it was made in Canada.

Earlier this week it was confirmed that Priscilla has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement which would allow cast including Jacob Elordi – who plays Elvis – to come. It’s not clear whether he will though.

Priscilla Presley, on whose 1985 memoir it is based, is expected to attend. She is an actress, herself, having appeared in Dallas and the Naked Gun films.

Most other stars have no option but to stay away. Bradley Cooper, who wrote, produced stars in and directed Maestro, about the conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, will not be in Venice to see possibly the defining film of his career premiere. It is by Netflix, who are a struck company.

A festival spokesman confirmed last month that he would not attend in solidarity with the strike by the actors union SAG-AFTRA.

The film Challengers, a tennis and three-somes drama starring Zendaya and Josh O’Connor, of The Crown, was going to open the festival but that dropped after the actor’s came on strike in July.

The prestige film Poor Things, an adaptation of a Frankenstein-esque gothic tale starring Emma Stone, will premiere at the festival but star Emma Stone and the rest of the cast will not be there.

Ferrari is a film by renowned director Michael Man and examines three months in the life of Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the car company. He has money trouble, is grieving his son who died, and has a child with his mistress – which is discovered by his wife.

Last year Florence Pugh skipped the press conference and photo call before the premiere of Don’t Worry Darling, in which she starred alongside Harry Styles. It was reported that she and director Olivia Wilde had fallen out during the making of the film, after Styles and Wilde started a love affair.

Pugh was friends with Wilde’s estranged partner Jason Sudeikis via her former relationship with actor Zach Braff. In addition she felt that the marketing of the show, and the focus on her explicit love scenes with Styles, was exploitative and may have blamed director Wilde for it.

She said in a magazine interview: ‘When it’s reduced to your sex scenes, or to watch the most famous man in the world go down on someone, it’s not why we do it. It’s not why I’m in this industry.

‘Obviously, the nature of hiring the most famous pop star in the world, you’re going to have conversations like that. That’s just not what I’m going to be discussing because [this movie is] bigger and better than that. And the people who made it are bigger and better than that.’

On the red carpet she and Wilde steered completely clear of each other, arriving at different times and not exchanging any pleasantries. Pugh left directly after the film was screened and did not attend a cast dinner or party. She was at the time making the film Dune 2 in Budapest.