The Majority of Food We Eat is Surprisingly Addictive and Deadly

How to know if you might be a junkie, plus small steps you can take to promote a healthier and longer life

Cereal marketed to kids has, on average, 40% more sugar than cereal marketed to adults. In either case, this stuff barely qualifies as food. Photos by the author

Ultra-processed food, aka highly processed or junk food, now accounts for more than half of all calories consumed in the United States and the U.K., fueling soaring rates of obesity in adults and children and increasing the risk of physical disease, dementia and early death. But we just can’t get enough of this sticky sweet, salty, fatty, greasy, heavenly awful stuff.

In the past two decades, the proportion of calories from ultra-processed food consumed by U.S. kids grew from 61% to 67%. Rates exceed 50% and are increasing among U.S. adults, too, and are also high and on the rise in other industrialized countries.

It’s not entirely our fault.

Highly processed foods and drinks include everything from breakfast cereal, packaged muffins and flavored yogurt to potato chips, candy, soda, canned soup, instant noodles, pepperoni, boxed and frozen ready-to-eat dinners and, well, grocery store aisles are packed with this crap.

Here’s the thing: Junk food is not only ubiquitous and heavily marketed, but it’s designed by manufacturers to trigger a temporary emotional high.

Yep, the bulk of what we now eat is designed to be addictive.

A new poll finds 13% of U.S. adults ages 50 to 80 meet the criteria for addiction to highly processed food, and 44% have at least one of the symptoms of addiction. Rates are similar in younger adults and kids, said study team member Ashley Gearhardt, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. “Current estimates suggest that 14% of younger adults and 12% of children meet the threshold for an addiction to highly processed food,” Gearhardt said.

The good news: Minor changes in what you eat can bring big results. More on that below. But first, you need to know something…

Designed for bliss

There’s no universal definition of highly processed food. But food labels offer clear clues of “food” that’s barely food.