Tue, Oct-10-23, 01:28
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Plan: Muscle Centric
Stats: 238/153/160
BF:
Progress: 109%
Location: UK
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Label ultra-processed foods ‘addictive’ to tackle obesity, say scientists
Quote:
Label ultra-processed foods ‘addictive’ to tackle obesity, say scientists
Two in three adults in the UK are obese or overweight and many are hooked on unhealthy food
Ultra-processed foods including chocolate bars should be labelled as “addictive substances” to help tackle soaring global obesity rates, a team of scientists have argued.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, they said junk food can be just as addictive as alcohol, tobacco or gambling and should be taxed and labelled to reflect this.
Their analysis of international data suggests that 14 per cent of adults and 12 per cent of children are addicted to food, causing them to lose control over consumption and eat too much.
They said “not all foods have addictive potential”, but that the composition of ultra-processed foods (UPF) mean they can disrupt “brain reward systems” and be addictive.
More than half of the typical British daily diet is made up of UPF, a term for products made using a series of industrial processes, including most breakfast cereals, ready meals, sweets, processed meat and chocolate bars.
The research said these foods “evoke similar levels of dopamine [a “feel good” chemical] in the brain to those seen with addictive substances such as nicotine and alcohol.”
It said there were several reasons why UPFs can be addictive. This included the fact that many products contain an equal combination of sugar and fat, at a ratio rarely found in natural whole foods, which hits consumers’ “bliss point” and keeps them coming back for more.
Researchers gave the example of an apple, salmon and a chocolate bar. The apple has a carbohydrate to fat ratio of 1:0, while the salmon has a ratio of 0:1. The chocolate bar, however, has a carbohydrate to fat ratio of 1:1, which appears to increase a food’s addictive potential.
Subjecting natural ingredients to industrial processes can also make them more addictive, the study said, as it degrades the physical structure of foods. This means they are lower in fibre, so sugars and fats are delivered more quickly to the gut - which then has a “different effect on the brain”.
For example, eating whole nuts will take the body a while to chew and digest, whereas eating sugary nutty breakfast cereal releases energy straight away and can “affect the brain more rapidly”.
The study said people can also get addicted to specific flavours and sweeteners added to UPFs.
The research was led by a group of experts in food from the US, Brazil and Spain, who said “courageous action” is needed by governments around the world to take on the food industry and reduce the availability of UPFs.
The lead author, Professor Ashley Gearhardt from the University of Michigan, said: “There is converging and consistent support for the validity and clinical relevance of food addiction.
“By acknowledging that certain types of processed foods have the properties of addictive substances, we may be able to help improve global health.”
They highlighted policies in Chile and Mexico, where UPFs must have warning labels on packets.
They drew parallels between food manufacturers and the tobacco industry, writing: “Tobacco companies minimised the addictive nature of their products by focusing on users’ personal responsibility.
“Appropriately classifying cigarettes as addictive increased the focus on industry culpability. If the science supports reclassifying UPFs as addictive substances, it may support the use of similar approaches to address UPF addiction.”
Previous research has linked ultra-processed foods to heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, depression and diabetes.
Campaigners in the UK are calling for tougher regulations to restrict the advertising of ultra-processed foods, and new national guidelines warning of their harmful effects.
The government has recently delayed a series of policies to tackle junk food, including a ban on advertising before 9pm, and a ban on buy-one-get-one-free deals. Two in three adults in the UK are obese or overweight.
The term “ultra-processed foods” was devised by Brazilian scientists in 2010, as they sought an explanation for the obesity epidemic. It refers to mass-produced foods with multiple ingredients and additives, often loosely defined as the sort of foods a grandmother would not recognise or could not be created in a home kitchen.
Last month leading British experts called for more nuance in the debate over UPF, warning that not all of the foods should be demonised.
Nutritionists have said that talking about them as a single category makes little sense — and there was scant evidence that the act of processing, rather than the ingredients themselves, is harmful.
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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...ealth-lprbnt0mn |
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