Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have more in common with cigarettes than with fruit or vegetables, and require far tighter regulation, according to a new report.
UPFs and cigarettes are engineered to encourage addiction and consumption, researchers from three US universities said, pointing to the parallels in widespread health harms that link both.
UPFs, which are widely available worldwide, are food products that have been industrially manufactured, often using emulsifiers or artificial colouring and flavours. The category includes soft drinks and packaged snacks such as crisps and biscuits.
There are similarities in the production processes of UPFs and cigarettes, and in manufacturers’ efforts to optimise the “doses” of products and how quickly they act on reward pathways in the body, according to the paper from researchers at Harvard, the University of Michigan and Duke University.
One of the authors, Prof Ashley Gearhardt of the University of Michigan, a clinical psychologist specialising in addiction, said her patients made the same links: “They would say, ‘I feel addicted to this stuff, I crave it – I used to smoke cigarettes [and] now I have the same habit but it’s with soda and doughnuts. I know it’s killing me; I want to quit, but I can’t.’”
One of the authors, Prof Ashley Gearhardt of the University of Michigan, a clinical psychologist specialising in addiction, said her patients made the same links: “They would say, ‘I feel addicted to this stuff, I crave it – I used to smoke cigarettes [and] now I have the same habit but it’s with soda and doughnuts. I know it’s killing me; I want to quit, but I can’t.’”
Sometimes I wish there was a devastating famine, and 100 of millions of us would starve to death so we’d have to start using the old definition of “kill” again, and appreciate the futuristic utopian we once had. We need to stop scrutinizing the actuary tables for hidden horrors, look up, look around, eat a cheeseburger, have an after meal cigarette and relish the wonderous paradise in which we all live.
How the fuck do you expect to get kids to eat salad when the salad dressing is locked behind a counter with the cigarettes?
The problem is that “ultra-processed foods” is too broad to be meaningful. Also the fact that, you know, some amount of personal choice is essential to a free society.
Spoken like someone who doesn’t understand neuroscience.
When I was an italian kid, I have never had problems eating salads with no ultra-processed dressing.
I’m sure that’s because of choices that your parents made and nothing to do with living in an area with high population density and easy access to fresh food.
Mmm olive oil
it is not ultra-processed, it is just processed.
Why would you even buy a readymade dressing? Salad dressing is dead simple to make.
Sure if you’re just making Italian or Russian dressing. If you want thousand island or caesar, you need more than a basic pantry. Also the time and energy/motivation, which a lot of people don’t have.
That’s why I have my own olive trees, chicken farm, lemon orchard, anchovy fishery, and a dairy farm in Parma
I don’t know why anyone would buy readymade olive oil, eggs, lemon juice, anchovies, or Parmesan, they’re dead simple to make
The first two dressings you listed are much healthier than the latter two. If I’m eating a salad, I don’t need to put a caloric dressing on it.
True, my addiction to Protein shakes will give me lung cancer soon.
Can we use a different label like “addictive foods”? UPF is so incredibly broad and undefined I’d argue bread is an UPF.
Bread literally is a UPF most of the time. Not necessarily the fresh baked bread that you get from a bakery, but the manufactured bread that’s slightly less healthy but is much cheaper and more accessible to people in remote or impoverished places.
A lot of ultra-processed foods exist because they’re solving specific problems, and you can’t just ban them without providing a better solution to those problems.
In my part of the world, there’s been alarms raised about growing obesity because of increasingly sedate lifestyles brought upon a lot of entertainment options, but then in poor neighborhoods I often pass by I see a lot of thin kids as malnutrition remains prevalent.
The best example I can think of to represent what the article is taking about is Doritos. I like to think of myself as someone with a decent amount of self-control. But if I ever see a bag of Doritos I can crush a whole value pack in two sittings. That stuff is engineered to be as addictive as possible and it shows. The only reason why I’m not a walking blimp is that I dont buy any because I know what happens when that stuff is in my house.
If only they engineered something that was both addictive and healthy for a change. But I guess there isn’t much incentive to sacrifice maximum addictiveness for health.
I once killed an entire party size bag of Doritos by myself.
To be fair I was really baked at the time.
if I ever see a bag of Doritos I can crush a whole value pack in two sittings
This confirms your decent amount of self-control.
I’m the sane way but vanilla oreos. I buy a thing once or twice a year
I’m that way with Pringles. I look at it and it looks like a giant tube of chips that should ideally last many days, but I can easily eat over half the tube in one sitting if I’m not being conscious of how many I’m eating at a time.
It’s that satisfying crunch. Consider almonds or mixed nuts instead, they’re healthier. You should also eat them slower. (I should know, I can also eat an entire thing of nuts if I’m not controlling it. But at least they’re nuts and not pringles.)
Funny you say that, I mostly swapped to eating cocktail peanuts as my salty snack of choice. They are more filling, so I don’t overeat and are definitely healthier than chips.
There is a certain ratio of carbohydrates to fat that stops us from being able to control how much we eat. (50:35 carbohydrates to fat) plus salt, flavour enhancers and whatever sells the product…
its .0001% Meth.
A little hint of love :)
MSG?
It’s certainly a factor, but not the whole picture. MSG is naturally occurring in a lot of whole foods as well. You don’t often hear of people with a crippling addiction to kelp or tomatoes.
I have a coworker (44) M who is insanely overweight. He is like 250+ and 5ft5 he only eats junk food both him and his wife and kids are fat as hell. He is currently going to have surgery to remove his lower intestines and have a permanent colostomy bag inserted into him. He proudly says he isn’t going to listen to the doctors about eating better after surgery. He is instead already buying smaller shirts because he thinks he is gonna lose weight and get abs from this.
Danny and the gang are cutting class to meet behind the bleachers; says he’s got a family pack of Twinkies and a 3-liter bottle of knock-off Mountain Dew. You in?
Hell yeah. Sounds like a party. Is there an after lan party?
Yeah we’re all planning to fall asleep on the couch watching Netflix. Just like they did in the before times when they still sold this stuff in stores!
Ahh we’re back to trying to ban and tax sugary food path. Worked great the first time guys, amirite?
Stop subsidies and let people kill themselves. This is something we really should blow political capital on 🙄.
I used to think this until I thought about the amount of money we use every year treating obesity and the related health issues. From the UK this is more obvious as more and more of our tax is used to treat increased rates of cancer and mobility issues. But also in the US I guess everyone’s insurance has to go to up to cover those that require more treatment.
For me education is #1 but we also can’t allow unhealthy foods to be so much cheaper than the healthy alternatives.
Don’t have the votes. Annoying people into fascism. You might get away with ending corporate subsidies.
