People now in their 50s and early 60s grew up as the first American generation surrounded by ultra-processed foods. They ate sugary cereals, frozen dinners, snack cakes, and colorful drinks loaded with artificial flavors and additives.
A new study says that early exposure may have done more than shape eating habits – it may have led to something more serious: addiction.
For years, scientists have debated whether food can truly be addictive the way drugs or alcohol are. This study strengthens the idea that food can be addictive. Ultra-processed foods, designed to hit the brain’s reward system hard and fast, make the case even stronger.
The researchers looked at Americans between ages 50 and 80 and found something surprising: 21 percent of women and 10 percent of men aged 50 to 64 met the clinical criteria for addiction to ultra-processed foods.
That’s a lot higher than what was found in older adults. Among people aged 65 to 80, only 12 percent of women and 4 percent of men showed signs of food addiction.
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The study found that women in their 50s and early 60s are more likely than men to meet the criteria for food addiction. This goes against the trend seen with other addictions like alcohol or nicotine, which tend to affect more men.
One possible reason? The marketing of diet foods. In the 1980s and 1990s, companies heavily pushed “light” and “low-fat” products aimed at women – things like low-calorie frozen dinners, 100-calorie snack packs, and fat-free desserts.
Food companies still processed these products heavily and packed them with carbohydrates and artificial ingredients. They marketed them as better options.
“The percentages we see in these data far outpace the percentages of older adults with problematic use of other addictive substances, such as alcohol and tobacco,” said Ashley Gearhardt, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan and the senior author of the study.
Read the complete article in Earth.com
