An analysis of 281 studies in 36 countries found that 14% of adults and 12% of children were addicted to ultra-processed foods like ice cream & chips.

[Your] favorite guilty pleasure snack may be just as addictive as cigarettes or heroin, a new study reveals.

An analysis of 281 studies in 36 countries, published in the British Medical Journal this month, found that your inability to put down the ice cream, chips and candy may have less to do with your self-control and more to do with the addictive quality of ultra-processed foods or UPFs.

“The combination of refined carbohydrates and fats often found in UPFs seems to have a supra-additive effect on brain reward systems, above either macronutrient alone, which may increase the addictive potential of these foods,” the study said.

  • bioemerl@kbin.social
    4·
    1 year ago

    Chris van Tulleken, a doctor and the author of Ultra-Processed People told the Guardian that while food itself is not addictive, “UPF is not really food. The purpose of food is to provide nourishment. UPF’s primary purpose is profit and financial growth."

    This just in, ice cream not food.

    • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
      41·
      1 year ago

      People saying deliberately exaggerated bullshit like this really makes them lose any sense of credibility.

      I sure hope he doesn’t think avocado farmers (and the undocumented migrant workers they underpay to harvest them) do it for any other reason than profit.