Pie and pizza should be redefined as addictive. Experts say processed foods are addictive and just as dangerous as cigarettes. Furthermore, the products meet the same dependency criteria as nicotine. Foods have also been linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other problems Two scientists ask for a hypothesis Restrictions on food marketing, according to the British newspaper “Daily Mail”.
Scientists believe highly processed foods should be reclassified as harmful like cigarettes and harmful like cigarettes, as researchers say items like donuts, sweet cereals and pizza meet criteria that have identified cigarettes as an addictive substance over the years 1990s, and these include causing compulsive use and mood changes that affect the brain, and having properties or ingredients that promote addiction or trigger cravings. Ultra-processed foods, which also include things like soda, chips, pastries and sweets, contain large amounts of unnatural flavors, preservatives, and sweeteners.
These characteristics give them a delicious taste, but also make them high in calories, fat, sugar or salt, which increases the risk of obesity and other chronic diseases, the paper said. .
Researchers led by Dr. Ashley Gerhardt, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, said these foods are very similar to cigarettes and addictive substances due to their distance in taste and texture from regular foods..
“They’re synthetics designed to deliver sugar and fat,” said Dr. Alexandra Devilicentonio, a health behavior research professor at Virginia Tech.“It’s the products that are well designed to deliver addictive substances, she says.
The paper said the researchers want to limit the marketing of these foods to children, in the same way that nicotine advertising can’t be directed at children, but they stopped short of calling for a blanket age ban..
And the newspaper said: “The obesity crisis in America has been largely linked to the spread of ultra-processed foods, foods are believed to make up about 50% of the American diet and, consequently, about 70% of Americans suffer from obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CENTER FOR DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL) with 40% of them classified as obese.
Dr. Gerhardt warned that even people with a healthy weight are still at risk of developing cancer and other problems from consuming junk food. Foods have been linked to an increase in diseases such as colorectal cancer and kidney disease and Alzheimer’s in the United States, among others..
A constant increase in blood sugar, through the consumption of sugary foods, can lead to diabetes.
A shocking study released in September that found early rates of breast, colon and pancreatic cancer were rising globally suggested these foods were the culprit..
Brazilian researchers released a study earlier this week suggesting 1 in 5 premature deaths in the South American country were linked to processed food. Now, experts are calling for it to be regulated in a similar way to nicotine..
In 1988, Dr. Charles Everett Cobb, who served as US Surgeon General to President Ronald Reagan, released a 600-page report discussing nicotine addiction.
At the time, more than half of adults in the United States smoked cigarettes, but the long-term effects of their use were relatively unknown..
Dr. Cobb used three main metrics, compulsive use, mood change, and reinforcement to determine that nicotine is addictive. Dr. Devilicentonio applies the criteria used to determine that nicotine is addictive even in highly processed foods, the first being compulsive use, which they described as someone wanting to eat foods even when they realize how bad they are for health.
Dr. Gerhardt pointed out, people want to reduce their consumption processed foodsand blamed the fat and sugar content of foods for triggering an addictive response in the brain. While more research is needed on junk food to determine exactly how it affects the brain, she believes the rate at which the body processes it could play a role..
Similar to the way nicotine and alcohol work throughout the body, the researchers say, the high sugar and fat content of these foods also affects a person’s dopamine receptors in the brain..
