Built to binge

The world has long known how cigarettes hijack the brain. Light one, inhale, and the nicotine hit is instant. Within seconds, the chemical acts on the brain to induce a pleasurable sensation—some report euphoria or heightened alertness; others, a sense of calm or satisfaction. Over time, the brain begins to crave this effect, leading to nicotine dependence. And despite the well-documented health risks, many users struggle to kick the habit.

Now replace the cigarette with a packet of chips or cookies. You open it, reach for one, and within seconds, your hand is back in the packet—much like the iconic tag line of Pringles’ stackable chips: “Once you pop, you can’t stop.” The craving is rarely driven by hunger. A growing body of research suggests that the brain demands more of these ultra-processed foods (UPFs) much like in the way it may crave for nicotine and other addictive substances.

Nearly 300 studies across 36 countries document that processed junk foods cause patterns of intake typical of drug addiction, write a group of scientists from the US in Nature Medicine on July 25. The article “Now is the time to recognize and respond to addiction to ultra-processed foods”, argues that certain foods can trigger addictive behaviour consistent with substance-use disorders. This is accepted by many addiction scientists and supported by evidence of neurobiological overlap with the brain circuits and molecular targets implicated in “classical” drug addictions. One meta-analysis from 2022, for example, estimates the global prevalence of addiction to UPFs at 14-20 per cent—equivalent to that of alcohol-use disorders.

Yet addiction to food is not formally recognised by medical classification systems, including the internationally accepted Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This oversight, warns the Nature Medicine article, carries significant public health consequences.

The fact is, packaged snacks and ready meals are typically high in sugar, salt, refined carbohydrates and saturated fats. They undergo complex industrial processing to extend shelf life and enhance taste (more on this later), leaving them low in nutrients and high in artificial additives. By now, there is plenty of evidence linking these calorie-rich, nutrient-poor UPFs to a range of negative health outcomes. A November 2023 factsheet by Global Food Research Program, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US, highlights that high UPF consumption is associated not only with increased incidences of obesity and diabetes, but also with cardiovascular diseases, dementia and depression and cancer in the US, UK and Europe. The Nature Medicine article also cites research that links UPF addiction to obesity, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

To make matters worse, UPFs are cheap and ubiquitous. Pushed aggressively by food companies, they have infiltrated everything from tea stalls to supermarket aisles and school canteens. Warning labels are rare. In such an environment, addiction to UPFs is spreading like a silent epidemic. Consider the experience of...

This article was originally published in the cover story Built to binge in the October 16-31, 2025 print edition of Down To Earth