Ultra-processed foods are industrially produced products that include ingredients not typically used in home cooking, often with long lists of unrecognizable ingredients and machinery-dependent production methods.
About 70% of the U.S. food supply is classified as ultra-processed.
They are convenient, shelf-stable, inexpensive, and allow for quick meal preparation, making them appealing to consumers. Additionally, tobacco companies, which owned food brands in the 1980s and 1990s, pioneered hyperpalatable foods, which are highly addictive.
Hyperpalatable foods are high in at least two nutrients, such as high fat and high salt, or high carbohydrate and high sugar, making them highly addictive and harder to stop eating.
Participants in the study gained two pounds in two weeks while on an ultra-processed diet, consuming 500 more calories per day than on an unprocessed diet, without realizing it.
Diet is complex, and other factors like sleep, exercise, stress, and access to healthcare can influence health. Clinical trials are needed to isolate the effects of ultra-processed foods, but such studies are difficult and time-consuming.
They may be hyperpalatable, triggering addictive responses in the brain, or they may pack more calories per bite, making it easier to consume more without feeling full.
Some countries are implementing warning labels on ultra-processed foods, limiting their marketing to children, and removing them from school meals to promote healthier eating habits.
Nutrition research has been underfunded, with much of it sponsored by food companies that have little incentive to investigate negative effects. Only about 5% of the NIH budget goes to nutrition research.
Yes, there is growing interest among addiction scientists in studying the addictive nature of certain foods, which could lead to more regulation and changes in the food environment to combat obesity.
A new study has found that nearly three-quarters of American adults are now obese or overweight, and there’s growing concern — among politicians, scientists and consumers — about one potential culprit: ultraprocessed foods.
Guest: Alice Callahan), a nutrition and health reporter for The New York Times, discusses how these foods came to be such a big part of what we eat, and why that’s so hard to change.
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