Personally, I think they need to stop with the constant complaints about "sugar, salt, fat" content. Only one of those 3 ingredients is a real problem in and of itself: sugar. In conjunction with the other 2, yes, it's an addictive combination. But by themselves salt and fat are not the problem.

They're also ignoring the fact that the vast majority of these addictive "sugar, salt, fat" combinations also have massive quantities of starch in common, and I have plenty of experience with just how addictive that starch is, especially when refined or combined with the other 3 ingredients, or even when combined with just the salt and fat.

Potato chips, anyone? "Betcha can't eat just one"

That's because starch only needs to go through one chemical change in your system to give you a blood sugar (glucose) rush, while sugar needs to go through 2 chemical changes to produce the same effect. Want that blood sugar high faster than you get from candy? Eat something starchy. Want your customers to have an even more irresistible craving for your product? Make sure it's starchy, and then tweak the addictive effect with salt and fat. It's a tried and true gold-mine formula for junk food.

As far as all the additives common in various processed and ultra processed foods are concerned, I sometimes wonder just how much people would crave UPFs if the starch and sugar were reduced enough to negate their effects, or eliminated altogether.

Would anyone even eat Froot Loops if they weren't sweet and crunchy? Imagine nothing more than food coloring with some vitamins and minerals added.

Would you be the least bit interested in chocolate if it wasn't sweetened? (unsweetened baking chocolate and cocoa powder are very bitter and don't taste the least bit like what we think of as a chocolate flavor on their own)

Does anyone think Dorito flavored spinach would be so addictive that it's worth manufacturing and selling in little bags?

I remember my kid being surprised that vanilla extract doesn't taste like vanilla - that it takes mixing it with something sweet for it to taste anything at all like what we expect vanilla to tastes like.