Labelling processed foods including crisps, chocolate and ice cream as ‘addictive’ could cut obesity rates, review finds

Labelling foods such as crisps, chocolate and ice cream as ‘addictive’ could help curb obesity rates, a major review has found.

Researchers likened them to tobacco and alcohol, saying the way some people consume items high in refined carbohydrates and fat ‘meets the criteria for diagnosis of substance use disorder’.

They estimate one in seven adults and one in eight children are hooked on ultra-processed foods, which can lead to intense cravings, withdrawal symptoms and less control over how much they eat. This is despite knowing the damaging effects such as obesity and poorer physical and mental health.

International researchers analysed 281 studies from 36 countries and found about 14 per cent of adults and 12 per cent of children had an addiction to ultra-processed food.

Researcher Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, from Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Virginia, said: ‘Most foods we think of as natural provide energy in the form of carbohydrate or fat – but not both.

An estimated one in seven adults and one in eight children are hooked on ultra-processed foods, which can lead to intense cravings, withdrawal symptoms and less control over how much they eat

‘Many ultra-processed foods have higher levels of both. That combination has a different effect on the brain.’ The speed at which these foods deliver carbohydrates and fats to the gut could also affect their addictive potential.

The study in the US concluded: ‘Ultra-processed foods are highly rewarding, appealing and consumed compulsively and may be addictive.’

It added in the BMJ medical journal that further research was needed but these items ‘are clearly consumed in addictive patterns and are leading to deleterious health outcomes’.

More than half of the average British diet is made up of ultra-processed food in contrast to natural foods such as fruit, meat and fish

Ultra-processed foods, which also include cereals, cakes and yogurts, make up more than half of the average British diet in contrast to natural foods such as fruit, meat and fish.

Dr Chris van Tulleken, whose book Ultra-Processed People was serialised in the Mail, backs a warning label system. Last month at a conference run by healthcare firm Randox, he said marketing tools developed by the tobacco industry were now used by food giants.

‘We know with ultra-processed food, the calorific reward is very quick,’ he added. ‘And once the sugar is in the gut, you get this huge rush and that’s what you get addicted to.’