7NEWS Spotlight

Ultra-processed foods have become a major part of the modern Australian diet – and they're often the very things we think of as healthy, convenient, and nutritious.

In this 7News Spotlight special investigation to air on Sunday at 8.45pm on Seven and 7Plus, Liam Bartlett goes inside the booming world of ultra-processed products, uncovering what's really in the foods filling our supermarket shelves - and the growing concerns about what they could be doing to our health.

Experts reveal Australians may be consuming far more ultra-processed food than they realise, and far more regularly.

Bartlett's investigation takes viewers from Australian supermarket aisles to the United States, uncovering the history behind the rise of ultra-processed foods – including the disturbing role played by some of the world's biggest tobacco companies.

Could the same science once used to sell cigarettes have helped create foods designed to keep us coming back for more?

Plus, 7News Spotlight speaks to researchers, doctors and families confronting the health consequences firsthand, while asking whether Australia's food labelling systems are giving shoppers enough information to understand exactly what they're buying.

What we uncover will forever change the way you see your supermarket trolley.

7News Spotlight Michael Usher meets 9 year old Tilly Page whose breakthrough treatment for childhood dementia could help could one day transform the fight against all forms of dementia.

When Kate and Lachlan Page welcomed their first child Matilda, life couldn't have been better. But at just three months old, Tilly was diagnosed with a cruel condition - childhood dementia.

The diagnosis was terminal. Her parents were told she would have just a few short years and her devastating decline would be like that of an adult dementia sufferer. Today, Tilly is nine years old, full of energy and "miraculous in her averageness".

In this 7NEWS Spotlight special investigation, Michael Usher meets the remarkable little girl who has made medical history - and investigates whether the breakthrough treatment could one day transform the fight against all forms of dementia.

"This is a story that I've wanted to tell for years, and now we can," Usher says. "It's an incredible medical miracle. A one-off fix for a little girl's terminal diagnosis. An experiment that worked and stopped a very cruel diagnosis in its tracks."

Tilly is among 40 children worldwide still being monitored as part of the ground breaking gene therapy trial while they wait for the treatment to receive regulatory approval.

But for other families, time is running out. The revolutionary treatment remains tied up in red tape, leaving desperate families without access to the therapy that changed Tilly's life.

What if a digital version of you could sit through boring work meetings, answer your emails or even earn money while you sleep? What if they could live on – even after you've died?

AI has become so convincingly human that companies are now creating digital replicas that look like us, sound like us and can act on our behalf.

In this 7News Spotlight special investigation, Ashlee Mullany delves into the multi-billion-dollar industry pushing the boundaries of what it means to be human.

From fashion models using AI ‘twins' to front campaigns without ever setting foot out of bed, to business leaders using digital replicas to deal with colleagues and clients – the technology is already rapidly entering our everyday lives.

But it doesn't stop in the workplace. The technology offers a way to create new friends and romantic companions and even make our loved one's immortal. Mullany meets a man who has regular facetime chats with his mother – who died in 2022.

In this Sunday's 7News Spotlight Ashlee Mullany uncovers stories resulting from home DNA tests.

"While DNA can solve life's biggest mysteries, are consumers really aware of how their data is being used?" Mullany asks. "Once uploaded, it can't be taken back, raising serious questions about privacy, consent and just who has access to our most personal information."

Should consumers be giving more thought to the consequences of home DNA tests and are they fully aware of the risks, not only to themselves but to their extended family?

Almost 50 million people have taken an at-home DNA test. The results are often uploaded to public databases, creating a treasure trove of genetic information.

There's the Melbourne woman who discovered she'd been swapped at birth. An author researching her family tree whose innocently uploaded DNA led police to arrest a relative for murder. In one horrifying case, a therapist learned that her high school boyfriend was in fact her brother.

Mullany explores the extraordinary power of consumer DNA testing. From police unmasking criminals who for decades believed they'd escaped justice, to helping scientists identify dozens of deceased Australians whose remains have long lay unclaimed.