Chapter 1: Why are ultra-processed foods so addictive?
The humble potato chip. A classic that is easily recognisable by sound alone. And that's not a fluke. Food companies put time and money into perfecting the sound of the crunch, all in an effort to bring you back for more. They're doing it using techniques on addiction, perfected by the tobacco industry. But it's not just the foods itself. It's ads like this.
Ooh, they taste good! And this one. When you feed your kids the protein, fibre, multigrain, B vitamins and iron in NutriGrain, they will be unstoppable. Well, they won't be unstoppable, but it will give them the fuel they need to try again and again.
They draw us into buying these products again and again. Today on The Detail, we look at why we find ultra-processed foods so addictive and how they always seem to end up in our trolleys. How we're being sucked in by celebrity endorsements, bright colours and something called the health halo effect.
Chips, biscuits, yogurts, protein bars, instant noodles, these are all examples of ultra-processed foods, or UPFs. They're different from just processed foods. Senior Research Fellow in Population Health at the University of Auckland, Kelly Garton, explains how.
humans have been processing foods for millennia.
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Chapter 2: How do marketing techniques mimic the tobacco industry?
And, you know, usually it's taking like raw, unprocessed or minimally processed ingredients, combining it with things like salt or sugar or, you know, using different processes to ferment or preserve or, you know, cook, extending shelf life. And, you know, that's the kind of thing we've been doing forever. What's more recent is the advent of ultra-processed foods.
So these are commercial formulations that made from cheap ingredients that are extracted or derived from whole foods and combined with additives, but they mostly contain little to no whole food in the end product. So, you know, you can identify them by seeing long lists of ingredients on packaged food and drinks, and also usually ingredients that you wouldn't see in a home kitchen.
So these are really, you know, rely on industrial processing to make.
And the recent research that you came out with is around ultra-processed foods. Can you tell me a little bit about why you did this research?
Well, first of all, research has shown that ultra-processed foods is taking on a larger and larger share of our diets, particularly in high-income countries like New Zealand.
Now, in just the last three decades or so, New Zealand's imports of ultra-processed food have skyrocketed from 16 kilograms per person to over 100 kilograms per person.
We don't have a recent dietary nutrition survey telling us exactly how much we're consuming, but other similar countries like Australia, Canada, UK, it's about 50% of people's energy intake. And we know that dietary patterns that are high in ultra-processed food increase the risk of developing a wide range of serious health conditions.
And we've known for a long time, the research has been there that Consuming a lot of ultra-processed foods is bad for us, but we still seem to be consuming a lot. You know, consumption continues to stay high and stable, and it's increasing in many lower- and middle-income countries. So we were really curious at looking at, like, why is this still so high and stable in our food system?
And we were really interested in sort of what the deeper, you know, patterns and feedback loops might be behind that.
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Chapter 3: What distinguishes ultra-processed foods from regular processed foods?
And so this sort of separates our taste receptors from the nutrition we get. And it tends to override our natural, our body's natural feedback systems. And it leads to more compulsive eating and intake.
So going back to the crunch because the fact that companies research even just the sounds that foods make, that is fascinating. I never knew that companies were actually going out of their way to make food sound more appealing. How long has, is this something that has been going on for quite a while?
I'm sure it has. There's not a whole lot of academic literature on this. It's something that's really come into the limelight more in the last five or 10 years, as certain researchers have really started to dig into the history of ultra processed foods and even looking at the links with tobacco industry. So one of the papers that we reviewed talked about how
In the 90s, several ultra-processed food companies in the U.S. were acquired by large tobacco firms. And, you know, over the next decade, they really learned from those tobacco companies what kind of techniques could be adapted to food to really drive more addictiveness. And the same learning was done here.
in the marketing strategies as well that tobacco companies were using, particularly to target kids. And several of these strategies were transferred over to ultra processed food and drink companies.
What kind of techniques have the food industry or the UPF industry, what techniques have they taken from tobacco companies to actually market these products to not only us, but to children?
Yeah, so the marketing strategies are interesting. And again, targeting children is a strategic decision because product preferences and brand recognition form at a young age. So companies are competing to bring in kids early and create consumers for life.
So just like the earlier days of cigarettes, before this became more regulated, marketing that targets children and young people typically hooks into the ideals of friendship and fun and being cool. So depending on the target age, this might feature something like cartoons or movie characters that are popular with children, but also professional athletes and popular actors and musicians.
So these are many of the same strategies that we saw the tobacco industry using, you know, back in the 90s before policy really caught up to the issue and decided to put a stop to it.
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Chapter 4: What recent research has been conducted on ultra-processed foods?
These kids are exposed to about a brand per minute. throughout their day. And these kids saw an average of 68 junk food ads every day. And that was twice the amount of marketing messages they saw for healthier foods. So, you know, we're constantly being nudged in the direction of of buying more unhealthy ultra processed foods.
And to be honest, ultra processed foods are not really a staple in most of our diets. A lot of these foods we can live without. So it's making choices to, you know, to gradually shift towards a less processed diet that's going to need to happen over time. And it's going to need to happen through sort of a cultural shift as well.
And what can the government do to help make these foods more readily accessible or reduce consumption of ultra-processed foods?
Well, a lot of countries around the world have gone for like a health tax on healthy foods. Sometimes this is defined as like sugary beverages. Sometimes they've looked at ultra processed foods and sweetened beverages. And those types of pricing policies sort of help shift the incentives towards healthier choices. And they have been shown to improve health. consumption patterns over time.
There are other policy options, though, that can help to increase the affordability and accessibility of healthy whole foods. I'm a huge supporter of universal school food programs that serve healthy, hot whole meals to kids across the country every day. That helps keep packaged snacks out of their lunchboxes. It helps build their food preferences and
and habits from a young age to really appreciate and prefer cooked meals. So that's, you know, that's something that the government could be looking at investing more. People have talked about taking away GST on whole foods and supermarkets the way Australia does.
There are a number of policies that governments can take that would help make whole, minimally processed foods more affordable and accessible.
And Kelly, are you tired of having to kind of get these messages out time and time again?
Yeah, you could say that. What I'm most tired of is hearing the narrative of personal responsibility and personal blame. And that's why I think this study is really important because It just proves that having a diet that's high in ultra-processed foods is not because of weak willpower or we just have to educate people better and they'll make better choices.
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