AUDIO – YA THINK? –
March 6, 2025 – Over the last decade or so, research has revealed a clear pattern: People tend to overeat ultraprocessed foods. This could be one reason they’re linked with weight gain and obesity.
What isn’t clear is why we are so prone to overeating them.
Dr. Robert Califf, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, offered one hypothesis at a Senate hearing in December: “These foods are probably addictive,” he said, adding that they may act on the same brain pathways involved with addiction to opioids and other drugs.“It wasn’t some magical brain study that convinced people” that cigarettes were addictive, she said. It was that people couldn’t stop smoking even after learning it was harming their health. “That was the nail in the coffin,” Dr. Gearhardt said. “We should believe people when they say that they’re addicted to ultraprocessed foods. “The proof is in the pudding,” she said. “People want to stop, but they can’t.”
