In collaboration, a group of international and multidisciplinary researchers with expertise in food addiction, nutrition physiology, food policy, eating disorders, behavioral addiction, and gut-brain reward signaling, have published an analysis in a special edition of the British Medical Journal Food For Thought, with a “controversial” recommendation: “It’s time for an international shift in the way we think about ultra-processed food.” The team calls for more research on the science surrounding ultra-processed foods.
“There is converging and consistent support for the validity and clinical relevance of food addiction,” said Ashley Gearhardt, the article’s corresponding author and a psychology professor at the University of Michigan. “By acknowledging that certain types of processed foods have the properties of addictive substances, we may be able to help improve global health.”
