Ultra-processed foods should be treated more like cigarettes than food study

"UPFs and cigarettes are engineered to encourage addiction and consumption, researchers from three US universities said, pointing to the parallels in widespread health harms that link both. UPFs, which are widely available worldwide, are food products that have been industrially manufactured, often using emulsifiers or artificial colouring and flavours. The category includes soft drinks and packaged snacks such as crisps and biscuits."

"The authors suggest that marketing claims on the products, such as being low fat or sugar free, are health washing that can stall regulation, akin to the advertising of cigarette filters in the 1950s as protective innovations that in practice offered little meaningful benefit. Quick GuideShow Ultra-processed food involves extremely high levels of manufacturing to produce. It includes all formula milk, many commercially produced baby and toddler foods, fizzy drinks and sweets, fast food, snacks, biscuits and cakes, as well as mass-produced bread and breakfast cereals, ready meals and desserts."

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are industrially manufactured products often containing emulsifiers, artificial colours, flavours and numerous additives. UPFs include soft drinks, packaged snacks, ready meals, mass-produced breads and many formula and toddler foods. UPFs are formulated to optimise dosing and the speed of action on brain reward pathways, encouraging consumption and addictive behaviours. Marketing claims such as 'low fat' or 'sugar free' can function as health washing and impede regulatory action. Widespread availability of UPFs contributes to population-level health harms and supports calls for far tighter regulation.

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