Monday, 11 May 2026, 3:04 pm
Press Release: University of Auckland
Ultraprocessed foods are designed and marketed in
ways that encourage people to keep choosing them, despite
knowing they are unhealthy.
A new University
of Auckland study finds companies making ultra-processed
foods, often called junk food, design and market these
products to encourage people to eat more and more of
them.
Led by Dr Joshua Clark, the study reviewed ten
years of international research to create detailed diagrams
showing how these foods are formulated and
promoted.
The diagrams were developed through group
discussions, repeated revisions and a two-day workshop with
experts in food science, marketing and systems research. See
Obesity
Reviews.
“What we found were several reinforcing
feedback loops, which all drive consumption and
purchasing,” says Clark.
“Our biology and our
behaviour are at the centre of this system, which goes some
way to explaining why, as populations, we are pretty hooked
on these foods.
“These UPF manufacturers are very
clever at this, because it makes them money.”
It is
likely New Zealanders consume half of their diet as
ultra-processed foods, in line with other developed
countries, researchers say.
A recent global report in
the Lancet found ultra-processed foods are causing rising
rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other
long-term illnesses.
Clark says New Zealand has many
options to respond to this health threat.
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“So many
countries have now implemented taxes on sugary food and
drink, regulations on advertising to children, strong
front-of-pack labelling programmes, as well as lobbying
transparency policies that keep the political playing-field
fair.
“We don’t have to be the trailblazers with
this one, we just have to follow some of the great work and
leadership coming out of places like Latin
America.”
Professor Boyd Swinburn, a population
nutrition researcher and co-author, says New Zealand has
done nothing about its high intake of UPFs.
“Half
the world has taxes on sugary drinks but for some reason,
political timidity and fear of the UPF industry has meant
that we have zero strategies in place to deal with our
epidemic of rising obesity.”
The new study proposes
that high consumption of ultra-processed food is not just
about personal choice, but instead, the result of a system
carefully designed to take advantage of how people think,
feel and behave.
The researchers found ultra-processed
food companies use a combination of strategies,
including:
ingredients such as sugar, fat and
salt that drive cravingsusing people’s online
data to target advertisingcartoons and characters
aimed at childrenstrong branding to build
loyaltyplacing outlets strategically, e.g., near
schools and in areas where there is already high UPF
consumptionpositioning products in high-traffic
areas of storesprocessing methods that supress the
body’s natural feeling of fullness
“It
isn’t just one tactic, there are quite a few pieces that
are interconnected to increase our exposure to their
advertising, to their products,” says Clark.
“Then
the foods are designed to be so convenient, so appealing and
generally the easier choice for many people, and all of
this, when it’s interlinked, makes us really crave and
over-consume UPFs, and, unfortunately, experience the
negative health effects from eating them.”
The
research highlights how people become trapped in this
system.
“We all hate to be manipulated by big
businesses,” says Clark.
“I think shining a light
on this is an opportunity to get people to care about it as
an issue and to ask, advocate, and demand for governmental
policy action to disrupt this system and rebuild a food
environment that serves and nourishes us, not the balance
sheets of international corporations.”
Senior author
Dr Kelly Garton, a senior research fellow in the
University’s School of Population Health, says UPF
companies learned important lessons from the tobacco
industry in the 1980s and 90s.
Research
shows US tobacco companies bought food and drink
businesses and used their knowledge of flavours and
child-focused marketing to help develop sugary drinks and
products that combine salt, fat and sugar to trigger strong
reward responses in the brain. See BMJ.
Combined
with chemical flavourings, these products became ‘hyper
palatable’ and designed to be over-eaten. See Addiction.
There
is earlier evidence showing how heavily marketed these
products are in New Zealand, especially in ways that target
children, young people and parents. See Evidence
Brief.
What this research
adds
Clark says the study identifies many
reinforcing feedback loops that keep consumption
high.
“Many of these exploit parts of our human
biology, psychology, behaviours and social patterns to drive
purchasing and consumption of their products.
“Our
social norms, daily routines, cultural practices, taste
preferences and even our brains’ rewards systems have been
captured and conditioned as part of this system to make us
crave and overconsume UPFs, meanwhile allowing the health
harms as collateral damage.”
The authors call for
New Zealand and other countries to implement policies
recommended by the World Health Organization to reduce UPF
consumption.
What other countries have
done
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