When I sat down to write this story, I remembered the gummy worms in the snack drawer of my kitchen. So I got up and grabbed a handful. I should add that I had just finished lunch, and I don’t really like gummy worms.
And yet, I ate them.
That’s not an unusual moment in my life, and maybe in yours too: eating a treat that serves almost no nutritional purpose. My treat, for instance, had sugar but little else of substance on the ingredient list: gelatin, natural and artificial flavors, carnauba leaf wax and colors, including Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Blue 1. As I read the list in growing disgust, I helped myself to another worm.
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These foods, scientists are increasingly convinced, have addictive properties, similar to the pulls created by alcohol, nicotine and opioids. And certain kinds of engineered foods, usually combinations of salts, fats and sugars, create such a strong desire to eat them that they could be classified as addictive substances.
Highly engineered foods can worm their way into the brain’s reward system, triggering powerful “eat more” signals. Studies suggest ultraprocessed foods can lead to cravings, loss of control, withdrawal and tolerance — all hallmarks of a substance use disorder.
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Like anyone who eats — which is to say, everyone — I thought I had a pretty good handle on what food is. But it turns out that my handful of cheese puffs doesn’t really count, according to Ashley Gearhardt, a psychologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
“This stuff isn’t food. It’s a hedonically optimized substance created through processing to make corporations a lot of money,” she says. “We shouldn’t give [ultraprocessed foods] a pass just because they have calories.”
Read the complete article in Science News
