How to know if you’re addicted to ultra-processed foods

Kate Ng
·Trending Lifestyle Reporter
·5 min read
Are you addicted to eating UPFs? (Getty Images)
Are you addicted to eating ultra-processed foods (UPFs)? (Getty Images)

The struggle is real when it comes to our favourite crisps, biscuits and snacks; you eat one, then another and another and another, and before you know it, the entire packet is empty. Much of the time, these snacks usually fall under the category of ultra-processed foods, or UPFs. They are either salty or sweet, but endlessly moreish, which makes us want to eat more of them all the time.

But experts are warning that this moreish quality that many UPFs have is resulting in an addiction to unhealthy foods. According to the Soil Association, the UK consumes more UPFs than anywhere else in Europe and these products make up over 50% of our shopping baskets.

Recently, TV doctor Dr Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People, warned that between 10% to 20% of people who eat UPFs are addicted to them - a similar rate of addiction across cocaine, alcohol and tobacco.

So, what does an addiction to UPFs look like? We may wonder if finishing a packet of crisps in one sitting is considered an addiction, but the real issue can look quite different.

Here’s how to know if you’re addicted to UPFs:

A woman eating chips from a package.
Being addicted to UPFs often mean people know they're not healthy foods, but they find it too hard to stop eating them. (Getty Images)

Dr van Tulleken’s measure for understanding whether you have an addiction to UPFs is knowing these foods can be harmful to you, but feeling like you’re unable to quit eating them.

"If there is something that you know harms you in some way, and yet you keep doing it despite trying to stop, whether it’s an activity or a substance, that’s what an addiction is," he explained in a recent interview in The Times.

He previously drew comparisons between tobacco and UPFs, and pointed to a study that was published in 2023 that coined the term "hyper-palatable" to describe foods that are "irresistible".

Tera Fazzino, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychology and The University of Kansas, said: "Hyper-palatable foods can be irresistible and difficult to stop eating. They have combinations of palatability-related nutrients, specifically fat, sugar, sodium or other carbohydrates that occur in combinations together."

She added: "These combinations of nutrients provide a really enhanced eating experience and make them difficult to stop eating. These effects are different than if you just had something high in fat but had no sugar, salt or other type of refined carbohydrate."

Eating sweet beans at work
UPFs can be incredibly difficult to stop eating, which can fuel an addiction to them. (Getty Images)

If you regularly find yourself finishing a large packet of crisps, biscuits, or any other snack of this nature by yourself, perhaps without even realising it, you may be addicted to UPFs.

This "loss of control over consumption" is one of the behavioural indicators of addiction, according to the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS). YFAS is a 25-point questionnaire based on substance dependence criteria that was released in 2009 to measure food addiction.

YFAS notably identified foods that are high in fat and high in sugar as most likely to result in food addiction. This could also be attributed to the fact that many UPFs are made of a combination of ingredients and flavours that trigger the brain’s reward system, making them difficult to stop bingeing.

In fact, an analysis published by a group of researchers in The BMJ suggested that consuming refined carbohydrates or fats can trigger the feel-good hormone dopamine at levels similar to those seen with addictive substances such as nicotine and alcohol.

Young woman staying confused in grocery store. Confused woman doesnt know what to buy. Young woman with a shopping cart at supermarket. Looking at supermarket shelf
Many people who display an addiction to UPFs find themselves experiencing intense cravings. (Getty Images)

Craving certain types of foods is normal and can sometimes be an indicator of what our body needs - for instance, it may mean you’re dehydrated, tired, stressed, or lacking in specific minerals.

However, intense cravings for very salty or very sweet UPFs can point to an addiction.

Dr Ashley Gearhardt, a psychologist studying compulsive eating at the University of Michigan who developed YFAS alongside colleagues at Yale, said that people "commonly experience strong cravings for these ultra-processed foods".

Speaking to News in Health, she said: "It’s one of the big obstacles to sticking to healthier diets. And it’s really engaging some of the brain circuitry when we’re craving drugs as when we’re craving these ultra-processed foods."

She goes on to explain that the brain has not evolved to handle the ingredients commonly found in UPFs. "Imagine sitting down and bingeing on a bushel of bananas. One banana and you feel full.

"When you get the same level of carbohydrate, but from jellybeans, it’s like the sugar goes right into your gut and into your brain. I think our brain just never evolved to handle this sort of delivery mechanism for these ingredients. The brakes are pretty weak when it comes to telling us we’ve had too much."

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