New Delhi: New research warns that ultra-processed foods (UPFs) — such as chips, cookies, and sugary sodas — can trigger addictive behaviours similar to those seen in substance-use disorders. These foods are carefully engineered to affect the brain in ways that make them hard to resist, much like drugs such as alcohol or cocaine.
Lead author of the study, Professor Ashley Gearhardt, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, explained that people don’t develop addictive behaviour toward natural foods like apples or brown rice. Instead, it’s the industrial, highly processed products designed for intense flavour and rapid consumption that create problems.
The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, reviewed data from nearly 300 studies conducted across 36 countries. It found that ultra-processed foods can hijack the brain’s reward system — the part responsible for feelings of pleasure and motivation — leading to cravings, loss of control, and continued consumption even when it causes harm. These are the same signs commonly used to diagnose addiction to substances like drugs and alcohol.
Brain imaging studies also support these findings. They show that people who consume ultra-processed foods compulsively have brain activity patterns similar to those of individuals with alcohol or cocaine addiction. In addition, medications that help reduce cravings for ultra-processed foods have also been shown to lessen compulsive drug use, further linking the two.
Despite the strong evidence, the condition known as “ultra-processed food addiction” is not currently recognised in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which healthcare professionals use to diagnose mental health conditions. The authors of the study argue that other conditions with less evidence, such as caffeine or nitrous oxide use disorder, have already been included in the manual. They believe it’s time for food addiction to be taken just as seriously.
Co-author Erica LaFata from Drexel University emphasised that the standard for recognising addiction in other areas has been much lower, and ultra-processed foods deserve equal consideration.
The researchers are now calling on health authorities, clinicians, and policymakers to officially recognise ultra-processed food addiction. They recommend funding more research, creating tools to diagnose and treat the condition, and introducing public health measures — such as warning labels, public education campaigns, and restrictions on marketing to children — similar to those used for tobacco.
"We're not saying all food is addictive," Gearhardt clarified. "We're saying many ultra-processed foods are designed to be addictive. If we don’t acknowledge that, we’re failing the people most affected — especially children."