BUILT TO BINGE

Over the past few decades, food companies have exploited basic human instincts to peddle ultra-processed products. Engineered to hijack the brain's reward system, these foods are silently fuelling a new addiction epidemic, and driving rising rates of obesity and chronic diseases. Urgent policy action is needed to reclaim control over our food environment.

- A report by SHAGUN

THE WORLD has long known how cigarettes hijack the brain. Light one, inhale, and the nicotine hit is instant. Within seconds, the chemical acts on the brain to induce a pleasurable sensation—some report euphoria or heightened alertness; others, a sense of calm or satisfaction. Over time, the brain begins to crave this effect, leading to nicotine dependence. And despite the well-documented health risks, many users struggle to kick the habit.

Now replace the cigarette with a packet of chips or cookies. You open it, reach for one, and within seconds, your hand is back in the packet—much like the iconic tag line of Pringles’ stackable chips: “Once you pop, you can’t stop.” The craving is rarely driven by hunger. A growing body of research suggests that the brain demands more of these ultra-processed foods (UPFS) much like in the way it may crave for nicotine and other addictive substances.

Nearly 300 studies across 36 countries document that processed junk foods cause patterns of intake typical of drug addiction, write a group of scientists from the US in Nature Medicine on July 25. The article “Now is the time to recognize and respond to addiction to ultra-processed foods”, argues that certain foods can trigger addictive behaviour consistent with substance-use disorders. This is accepted by many addiction scientists and supported by evidence of neurobiological overlap with the brain circuits and molecular targets implicated in “classical” drug addictions. One meta-analysis from 2022, for example, estimates the global prevalence of addiction to UPFS at 14-20 per cent—equivalent to that of alcohol-use disorders.

Yet addiction to food is not formally recognised by medical classification systems, including the internationally accepted Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This oversight, warns the Nature Medicine article, carries significant public health consequences.