Food addiction and cravings: How ultra-processed foods fuel the health crisis
'It’s not just really about the calories. It starts to be about the hedonics, the pleasure, the emotion regulation from a very, very young age'
Ultra-processed foods rely on unnatural ingredients
Ultra-processed foods have been linked to chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. According to the Nova Food Classification System, ultra-processed foods include foods with added ingredients like artificial colors and flavors, preservatives for shelf stability, and ingredients to preserve texture. Generally, these foods contain substances not normally used in cooking; items you won’t find in a household kitchen or even recognize as food.
Ultra-processed foods destroy health
Caused chronic illness in teen
A Pennsylvania teen is suing food manufacturers who made the ultra-processed foods he grew up eating. His diet resulted in his being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease by the time he was 16. He alleges in the lawsuits that “the companies intentionally develop addictive food and market it to children.” The Epoch Times covered the story, quoting Mike Morgan, a partner at Morgan and Morgan, the firm representing the teen:
“Ultra-processed foods (UPF) are the result of companies that value profits over people, health, and safety.”
Banned dye associated with cancer and hyperactivity
The FDA has finally banned Red Dye No. 3, an artificial food coloring (known as erythrosine in other countries), from foods, supplements, and ingested drugs. This comes after banning it from cosmetics and topical medications in 1990, 35 years ago, and following California’s recent banning of several artificial food dyes.
Studies have linked artificial food dyes with hyperactivity in children and with cancer. OEHHA scientist Mark Miller noted that there is enough compelling evidence from human studies, showing the dye results in increased hyperactivity and inattentiveness, to ban the dye, as well as animal studies showing that the dye can cause problems with memory and learning, as reported by NPR in 2023.
"I think the evidence is compelling from those human studies that children's consumption of synthetic food dyes can contribute to increases in symptoms like inattention, hyperactivity in some children," says Mark Miller, a scientist with California's EPA's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
NIH — ultra-processed foods are junk foods
Last February the National Institutes of Health (NIH) News in Health newsletter (NIHN) published an article titled: “Dejunking Your Diet, The Drawbacks of Ultra-Processed Foods.” In addition to the above explanation of what constitutes ultra-processed foods, it added that,
[u]ltra-processed foods are designed to be low cost and have long shelf lives. They’re tasty, convenient, and ready to eat. Examples include carbonated soft drinks, chips, chicken nuggets, and sausages.
NIHN referenced a study conducted by NIH metabolism researcher Dr. Kevin Hall which found that people on an ultra-processed foods diet easily ate more calories than people on a minimally processed foods diet.
Study participants stayed at NIH’s Metabolic Clinical Research Unit for four weeks, spending two weeks on each diet. Both diets offered the same amount of calories, sugar, fiber, fat, sodium, and carbohydrates on a daily basis. Participants could eat as much or as little as they wanted.
When people were on the diet with ultra-processed foods, they ate about 500 more calories each day. They also gained about 2 pounds on average. In contrast, when they were on the less-processed diet, they lost about 2 pounds.
Food addiction
Dr. Hall wasn’t quite sure what caused the study participants to overeat on the ultra-processed diet. However, Dr. Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, a neuroscientist who studies health behaviors at Virginia Tech, has been studying how the brain’s reward system is affected by ultra-processed foods, surmising that the foods may be addictive. People could not stop eating them even when they weren’t hungry.
Dr. Ashley Gearhardt, a clinical psychologist who studies overeating behaviors at the University of Michigan, found that the foods are indeed addictive, causing withdrawal symptoms for some. She noted that when people start eating healthier foods, instead of feeling better they often feel irritable and crave unhealthy foods.
Addictive substances can also cause withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking them. Symptoms can include irritability, agitation, depression, and strong cravings for the substance. Gearhardt and others are studying whether cutting back on ultra-processed foods can cause similar withdrawal symptoms. This research may help explain why eating healthier can be harder for some people.
“Right now, we tell people they should feel better if they’re eating healthier,” Gearhardt says. “But we hear a lot of people say: ‘When I start to eat healthier, I feel so irritable and agitated. My cravings are so strong that I don’t feel better. I feel worse.’”
Gearhardt, DiFeliceantonio, and colleagues published a paper in the BMJ several months earlier, in October 2023, detailing their research and the results.
Patients and doctors don’t recognize food addiction
Epoch Times Health writer Amy Denney, in her article about food addiction, explained that people and doctors may not recognize neurological and other health problems as food-related.
Patients and doctors often fail to connect the dots between symptoms—like migraines, joint pain, and insulin resistance—and food. The medical system is only now starting to focus on the nuances of nutrition and does not yet recognize food addiction. Many patients, some unaware of their own unhealthy eating habits, have little insight into the core of their problem.
Denney noted that food addiction is not a formally recognized addiction, so doctors can’t make a correct mental health diagnosis and determine the right treatment.
Doctors rely on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to determine mental health diagnoses, which, in turn, helps dictate the correct treatment for patients. However, food addiction isn’t officially considered a substance abuse disorder, despite some efforts to include it.
The reason why ultra-processed foods can be addictive is because the combination of sugar, salt, and fat triggers a “bliss point,” a dopamine response that results in cravings for more, similar to illegal drugs, as Denney’s image, below, demonstrates.
Food addiction is closely intertwined with industrialized ultra-processed food. Breads, cereals, packaged snacks, sugary drinks, fast foods, and frozen meals are often made with a combination of sugar, salt, and fat that triggers what’s called the “bliss point“—a dopamine response that fuels cravings for more. Research shows that people react to ingredients like fat, added sugars, other sweeteners, salt, and starch in ways similar to illicit drugs, like consuming higher and higher doses and experiencing rapid absorption.
Denney quoted Gearhardt who noted that ultra-processed food is very different from real food and should be considered a chemical substance, especially as it concerns children.
Ultra-processed food is so “wildly different” from real food that it should be considered a chemical substance, especially for children. . . . [Gearhardt’s] research has found that 12 percent of children and 14 percent of adults show signs of food addiction.
“It’s not just really about the calories. It starts to be about the hedonics, the pleasure, the emotion regulation from a very, very young age,” Gearhardt said. “We do see that children who are showing these signs of addiction in their eating, they have higher body mass index, higher emotional overeating. They’re less sensitive to their satiety signals. They have greater body fat percentages.”
Despite there not being a DSM diagnosis for food addiction, the model used to differentiate social drinkers from alcoholics was applied to food.
The result is [Gearhardt’s] 25-question Yale Food Addiction Scale, which determines if someone is struggling with:
Taking more of a substance than intended
Wanting or unsuccessfully attempting to quit the substance
Spending excessive time and effort to quit the substance
Neglecting obligations or social functions due to substance use
Continuing substance use even when feeling unwell
Needing more of the substance for desired effects
Experiencing withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, agitation, or other physical struggles
Facing clinically significant impairment or distress
Addictive like cigarettes
Nurse Kate, in her tweet quoted below, spoke about the similarity between cigarette addiction and food addiction, noting that the cigarette companies bought up some of the food manufacturers and made their foods as addictive as cigarettes.
Just as we are finally having a serious conversation about the state of health in this nation, both Time magazine and the AP release articles that are designed to confuse you about ultra-processed foods. The AP even goes so far as to say that while there is evidence, there is no proof that ultra-processed foods contribute to disease or in any way negatively impact your health.
We actually used to see articles written like this defending cigarettes and cigarette companies. In the 1980s articles exactly like this were published by some of these same legacy outlets there were designed to confuse you and make you say, “Well, maybe cigarettes aren't as bad as we think they are.” But they actually were, and they actually are. In the 1980s those cigarette manufacturers actually purchased up some of the biggest food manufacturing companies and, now, here we are with those same big food manufacturing companies paying for research, paying for stories, paying for articles to say the same thing to confuse you.
What if it’s not food addiction?
Although the Food Addiction Institute [founded in 2005] is lobbying to have food addiction included in the DSM, Denney notes that not everyone is convinced that food addiction is real or the root cause of most people’s weight and binge eating problems.
A 2024 study published in the journal Appetite concluded that most overweight and obese people may have mental health problems other than food addiction, she reported.
Based on statistical analysis, the authors suggested that food addiction isn’t the root of most problems and may indicate other mental health issues. In a sample of American adults, the food addiction rate was 4.7 percent. However, at least 39 percent of the sample were overweight, dieted, attempted to control their weight, or believed they were overweight.
Denney also referred to an article in Obesity Review whose authors weren’t ready to discount the food addiction theory.
Obesity Review questioned whether food addiction was valid, found preliminary support, and suggested more evidence is necessary before jumping to conclusions.
Only the studies by Hall and Gearhardt examined the connection between ultra-processed foods and overeating. Whether or not it’s an actual food addiction, based on their research, it’s hard to ignore the fact that ultra-processed foods do cause people to eat more. However, it may not always be the rush of dopamine, the “bliss point,” that induces overeating.
Lack of satiety leads to food cravings
Nutritionist Michael Joseph attributes food cravings to nutrient-poor diets that leave people feeling hungry.
Generally speaking, any diet that fails to promote satiety is a diet that encourages food cravings.
Satiety is the key to dietary success and sustainable, long-term weight loss. Despite this, it is barely mentioned by diet proponents.
He says that food cravings can be a result of eating ultra-processed foods that are short on nutrition, causing one to eat more to be satisfied.
Read the newspapers each day, and you’re sure to come across an article querying the reasons why people get fat.
It’s my belief that the answer to this question is much more straightforward than most people believe.
We are simply eating the wrong foods – and far too many of them.
It’s also no surprise that we are overindulging, as the food most people are eating is ultra-processed and lacking in nutrients. (Original emphasis.)
Joseph suggests eating wholesome “real” foods such as meat, fish, poultry, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds to get the nutrients one needs to feel satisfied.
He also provides the following suggestions to increase satiety.
Ensuring adequate intake of protein: protein is essential for satiety; it holds off hunger better than any other macronutrient, and protein-rich foods are highly satiating.
Focus on nutrient-dense whole foods: the more nutrient-dense (and less energy-dense) foods are, the better.
Drink enough liquid: this stops us from confusing hunger with thirst signals.
Choose fiber-rich carbohydrate: if you eat carbs, focus on fibrous sources such as vegetables and whole fruit (berries are great). As well as containing fibrous carbohydrate, these foods also contain large amounts of water, which both help with satiety.
Eat slowly: quicker eating has links to a much higher intake of food. This correlation could be due to finishing meals sooner than it takes for satiety cues to reach the brain, as well as “mindless eating.” This term refers to our behavior when we don’t realize how much we’re consuming.
Use Vinegar: Various studies show that vinegar lowers glucose and insulin responses to a meal, and leads to higher satiety.
Healthy or unhealthy foods — the choice is yours
Ultra-processed foods are a major contributor to chronic disease, potentially addictive, related to food cravings, and largely unrecognized as such by doctors and patients. Whether or not food addiction receives a formal classification, the evidence is clear: ultra-processed foods encourage overeating and lead to long-term health consequences. While the NIH acknowledges their dangers, the FDA has failed to recognize ultra-processed foods as unhealthy, allowing these products to retain their status in the updated 2025 food guidelines.
Dejunking your diet can’t be left up to food manufacturers or health agencies. Taking personal responsibility for your food choices by choosing wholesome, real foods is the best way to reclaim your health.
In the video below, health and science journalist Max Lugavere, who spoke at Senator Ron Johnson’s Holistic Health Panel, explains that the best way to overcome ultra-processed food addictions [and cravings] is to cook your own nutrient-dense meals.
I think that's one of the great things about knowing how to cook—about culinary literacy. Unfortunately, culinary literacy has been outsourced. We've outsourced so many aspects of what it means to be a self-sufficient human these days.. .
Related articles:
Two ultra-processed food experiments, two different outcomes—what’s the truth?
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The information contained in this article is for educational and information purposes only and is not intended as health, medical, financial, or legal advice. Always consult a physician, lawyer, or other qualified professional regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition, health objectives, or legal or financial issues.