{"id":603440,"date":"2026-05-25T19:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T19:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/603440\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T19:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T19:07:09","slug":"unhealthy-ultra-processed-foods-are-designed-to-make-us-crave-and-eat-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/603440\/","title":{"rendered":"Unhealthy ultra-processed foods are designed to make us crave and eat more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Consumption of ultra-processed foods \u2013 including soft drinks, snacks and ready meals \u2013 is growing worldwide<\/a>, despite evidence they are unhealthy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ultra-processed foods make up about 70% of packaged food products<\/a> on supermarket shelves, and even more in convenience stores.<\/p>\n

In our new research<\/a>, we explore how companies that produce these foods play on human nature to make such products seem the easiest, most rewarding and compelling option.<\/p>\n

We show that ultra-processed foods are designed to make us crave them and eat more. They are marketed to all groups, particularly children, in a way that makes them seem the most delicious and convenient option, giving the best value-for-money, despite many health harms.<\/p>\n

Our attraction to ultra-processed foods is no coincidence. Ultra-processed foods companies combine a range of tactics to drive up consumption. Many of these tactics exploit the ways we think, feel and behave.<\/p>\n

Why we keep eating UPFs<\/p>\n

Ultra-processed foods are the most processed foods on the market. According to medical journal The Lancet<\/a>, they are commercial formulations made from cheap ingredients extracted or derived from whole foods, combined with additives, but mostly containing little to no whole food in the end product.<\/p>\n

Ultra-processed foods are heavily branded and marketed, and most are produced by large international corporations.<\/p>\n

But diets high in UPFs carry a risk<\/a> of developing a wide range of serious health conditions, including excess weight or obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease and depression, as well as premature death.<\/p>\n

Our research asked why we keep eating diets high in ultra-processed foods when we know how unhealthy they are. To answer this, we decided to zoom out and explore the system that develops, produces and markets ultra-processed foods, and investigate how human nature is caught up in it.<\/p>\n

We reviewed a decade of published research on the food science and marketing of ultra-processed foods, and then worked with experts in these fields to create and refine system diagrams to visualise how it works.<\/p>\n

These maps are called \u201ccausal loop diagrams\u201d, and their power is in showing reinforcing (positive) feedback loops that drive the system towards its ultimate purpose: selling more ultra-processed foods.<\/p>\n

We found the system is made up of many interconnected loops that capture parts of human behaviour and biology as key elements.<\/p>\n

Designed for maximum consumption<\/p>\n

One feedback loop includes the use of addictive combinations<\/a> of ingredients, particularly refined carbohydrates and fats. Biologically, carbohydrates (including but not limited to sugars) and fats activate different reward pathways between the gut and brain. When they are consumed together, their effects become addictive.<\/p>\n

These ingredients can be combined in many different concentrations to hit sensory \u201csweet spots\u201d. In other words, they maximise pleasure and craving responses while minimising negative responses.<\/p>\n

Further strategies include processing methods that suppress peoples\u2019 natural sense of being full<\/a> or speed up digestion in order to give an immediate but quickly fading sense of \u201creward\u201d, making us want more, sooner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UPF marketing strategies<\/p>\n

In terms of marketing, products are formulated to be easy and convenient to store and eat, and to appeal to our sense of getting good value.<\/p>\n

Various promotional techniques aim to capture consumers\u2019 attention and desire, as well as giving the illusion of healthiness<\/a>. Strategies targeting children in particular employ popular culture associations with coolness or fun<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another example of a feedback loop is how corporations collect large and complex data on our purchasing habits and our online lives, informing targeted digital marketing on social media platforms. This tends to be effective at driving purchases, providing more data to further refine these promotion strategies.<\/p>\n

Overall we identified 11 different reinforcing feedback loops. Our research is the first study to show this web as part of the ultra-processed foods system, designed to essentially trap people into buying and eating more and displacing healthier options in diets.<\/p>\n

This product-level system also connects with feedback loops further up the supply chain<\/a> in economic and financial spheres of the global UPF production.<\/p>\n

This matters because unhealthy diets and excess body weight cause 18% of preventable premature death and disability<\/a> in New Zealand. Both risk factors are linked to eating too much ultra-processed foods.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, New Zealand hasn\u2019t undertaken national nutrition surveys since the 2000s and we have to rely on data from similar countries such as Australia to estimate that ultra-processed foods make up about half of our energy intake<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What to do about it<\/p>\n

Diets high in ultra-processed foods are not the result of people\u2019s free personal choice or weak willpower, but of an intentionally designed system.<\/p>\n

Our research shines light on how the ultra-processed foods system is taking advantage, particularly of children. International experts have framed ultra-processed foods as a major global health issue, and advise strong government policy<\/a> to regulate these products to counter some of these mechanisms.<\/p>\n

Policy leadership already exists in other parts of the world, particularly in Latin America<\/a>. New Zealand could follow other countries that have implemented taxes on ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks<\/a>, regulations restricting advertising to children<\/a>, strong front-of-pack labelling<\/a> and transparency policies such as public disclosure of lobbying in government.<\/p>\n

Complacency is not an option. The food system needs rebalancing<\/a> so that it serves and nourishes people now and in the future.<\/p>\n

Kelly Garton<\/a> is Senior Research Fellow in Population Health, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau.<\/p>\n

Boyd Swinburn<\/a> is Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau.<\/p>\n

This article was first published on The Conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Consumption of ultra-processed foods \u2013 including soft drinks, snacks and ready meals \u2013 is growing worldwide, despite evidence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[205788,102,6636,56,7653,205787,54,55],"class_list":["post-603440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-food-marketing-tricks","tag-health","tag-nutrition","tag-uk","tag-ultra-processed-food","tag-unhealth-food-design","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}