The world’s most prominent experts on ultra-processed foods will gather in London next month for the International Food Addiction Consensus Conference. The ultimate goal of this rally is to have addiction to highly processed junk food officially recognized as a condition by both the World Health Organization and major mental health organizations.
“We’re coming together to say, ‘Yes, this is a real syndrome,'” said Dr. Vera Terman, addiction medicine expert and author of the book “Food Junkies,” speaking at the conference. explains. “Because people may not understand how addictive these foods are.”
While this may seem like an exaggeration, Dr Turman said an estimated 25.9 per cent of the UK’s obese population eat too much junk food, despite the health problems such eating patterns cause. He points out the fact that he continues to take it. This is a known pattern of addiction that is also seen with alcohol, tobacco, and other substances.
“Every obese person or diabetic knows they shouldn’t be eating these foods, but they get hooked on them,” she says. “These foods are basically like drugs, and if you’re constantly exposed to drugs, you’re more likely to develop food addiction syndrome.”
The precise reason why ultra-processed foods are so addictive is the complex and multifaceted situation related to how they are produced and the associated food environment.
why are they so addictive
From potato chips, chocolate bars, and soft drinks to seemingly healthy options like flavored yogurt and branded breakfast cereals, food experts often describe them as “very tasty.”
This means it was carefully formulated in the laboratories of major food companies, often through decades of very clever chemistry. They are then tested on taste panels to discover the exact sweet spot of sugar, salt, and other ingredients to increase sales by getting people to eat as much as possible and maximizing their addictive potential.
Professor Christina Fogel, a food policy expert at City University of London and the University of Southampton, says: “Highly palatable foods are designed with a combination of ingredients that trigger the taste sensation, especially fat, sugar and salt.” talk. “When you combine these ingredients, they have effects far beyond what any single ingredient can produce on their own. Almost all of us use these highly palatable foods in our daily lives that are hard to stop eating.” We are constantly exposed to unhealthy foods.”
Chris van Tureken, associate professor at University College London and author of the book, says: super processed peopleone of the biggest tricks behind many common ultra-processed foods is a careful balance of conflicting flavors, which allows certain ingredients, such as salt and sugar, to be added in much higher amounts than usual. You will come to accept it.
As an example, he proposes an experiment to understand some of the fundamental processes behind Coca-Cola and other carbonated drinks. If you take a glass of tap water and add sugar to it, it will not taste good at first, but no more. But by adding a drop of phosphoric acid, making your drink frothy and cold, and adding a little flavor of everything from citrus juice to vanilla extract, you can mask the amount of sugar your body normally rejects.
“The tongue is the body’s way of saying, ‘Hey, this is more sugar than your pancreas can handle, so it’s probably too sweet,'” Van Taleken says. “So you end up spitting out a glass of water with nine spoonfuls of sugar in it. But then you also add sour phosphoric acid and bitter caffeine to give it some flavor, and then you feel that strange texture of bubbles, and suddenly… You can ingest an unusual amount of sugar that seems to bring rewards.
But it’s not just the basic ingredients. Dr. Terman refers to a term coined by investigative journalist Michael Moss a decade ago, the “bliss point.” From the attractive packaging and cartoon characters on cereal boxes to the sensations they create in our mouths, that combined experience explores how ultra-processed foods hack our brain chemistry. It’s important for people.
“It’s not just sugar and flour, but the additives that give food its crunchiness, appearance, and mouthfeel, and all of these characteristics influence a brain chemical called dopamine at different levels,” Dr. Terman says. says. . “The processed food industry probably understands more about the brain and how to make food so appealing than anyone else.”
