There’s nothing more satisfying than ordering cheap takeaway, eating a bag of salty potato chips, or eating a late-night burger with a melted chunk of fake American cheese. Just the idea of these ultra-processed products (UPFs) is enough to make many of us salivate and flip through Deliveroo. Whereas the thought of steamed salmon and broccoli—as tasty and healthy as they are—probably won’t thrill our brains that much.
Someone who has long had junk food cravings is a virologist, Dr. Chris Van Talleken, self-proclaimed drug addict UPF. He says he’s tried cigarettes, alcohol, heroin (after testicular surgery), but nothing beats the kick he gets from his favorite food. He’s fascinated by what, say, a Maryland chocolate chip cookie or a hot dog does to our brains to make us crave so much.
We’ve been told for so long that we just need to make different food choices, eat better, and be more responsible, but new science is starting to show that ultra-processed foods can hack our brains in much the same way as smoking or smoking. . drugs.
Van Tulleken, who discusses this in his new book. ultra-processed peoplefor the sake of research, he set himself the task of eating only UPF for a month to see how it would affect his mind and body (the answer is very bad!). He found that UPFs, especially foods with a specific combination of salt, fat, sugar, and protein, can make our age-old evolutionary systems “want.”
In the book, Van Tulleken talks with Nicole Avena, an associate professor at Mount Sinai in New York and a visiting professor at Princeton whose research focuses on food addiction and obesity. “Some highly processed foods,” Professor Avena told him, “can activate the brain’s reward system, similar to what happens when people take drugs like alcohol or even nicotine or morphine.”
There is a growing body of brain scan data showing that these foods are connected to the reward system in our brain that makes us want things we had fun with. “It’s about the taste, which is enhanced by a lot of chemicals, as well as a transparent, pleasant packaging, a smell, or a place where you can buy it,” Van Talleken says. I. “It all plays into our brains, telling us that a tasty UPF is what we need and creating new pathways in our brains.
“It’s hard for some people to imagine that UPFs are like cigarettes, but a diet rich in UPFs is responsible for 22 percent of all deaths and is associated with more deaths worldwide than high blood pressure, tobacco, or any other health risk seems. useful.” The ability to view UPF as an addictive substance and not just a junk food that people like to eat.
So, if our brains are at the mercy of UPF, how does Van Tulleken think we can break the cycle of addiction? Of course, not all of us are completely addicted to all UPFs, but there are probably a number of products that we find it hard to resist. How do we break this reward system that scientists are starting to learn more about?
How to break the circle
“What I find interesting and indicative of its addictive nature,” Van Talleken says, “is that rationally knowing that UPF is bad for us doesn’t make it any less desirable.” but many will continue because the dopamine influence is so great and the habit is so ingrained. Van Talleken felt this tension in himself: “I wanted UPF, but I didn’t really like UPF, and I didn’t really enjoy eating it.”
Many of us put down a box of 99 cent chicken wings and thought, “Uh-huh,” but moved on anyway. Within a month of research, Van Talleken started eating turkey twizzlers (banned by schools in 2005 and once containing 40 ingredients (now 37)) and felt sick.
“The UPF diet caused me anxiety, unhappiness and deep sadness,” he says, “but I associated anxiety with work or other life problems, although everything in my life was the same, except for the food I ate.
“I think part of my grief was the direct effect of UPF on the brain, as well as the insomnia that salty foods caused me because I drank so much water and had to get up to pee at night, the fact that I I had constipation and hemorrhoids. I felt inflamed and lethargic. All my health problems and my deep sadness did not stop until I stopped the UPF diet.
But for all the anxiety and stress he felt, UPF had hacked his brain so cleverly that he still got a dopamine rush every time he ordered another takeaway or drank a can of Coca-Cola. “There was a battle in my brain. My scan showed that the parts of my brain that form the habit and make up the reward system are highly interconnected and unaffected by the fact that I no longer feel like eating. The brain scan showed my confusion.”
Long story short, Van Tulleken was starting to get disgusted with UPF, but he still wanted it. “I ordered takeaway food,” he says, “and because I was addicted to the Deliveroo app, all the colors, choices, and photos of all the salty and spicy foods. I had dopamine glued to all the restaurant logos and the excitement of ordering.
“I was still addicted to this behavior. But when the food did show up, I regret throwing away all the takeaway food twice. I find it very exciting to want and love a divorce.”
But in the end, Van Tulleken finally broke the cycle of UPF addiction by giving it up. Something, the scientist told him, flipped a switch in his brain, and the idea of another Grenade Carb Killa Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Bar—a snack bar made from cow tendons but with added salt, sweetener, and flavoring—was gone. tempting.
What was this transformative information? During the diet, scientist Fernanda Rauber from the University of São Paulo explained to him in detail how UPF plastic packaging, especially when heated, can significantly affect fertility, how UPF damages the intestines, and what harm high fat content causes. Starch and sugar hurt him.
“But what has haunted me all this time,” says Van Talleken, “is that when I talked about the ‘food’ that I ate, she corrected me: “The biggest UPF is not food, Chris. It’s an industrial edible substance.”
After initially leaving UPF, he says “life has improved”. After 48 hours without him, he slept better, his bowels began to work more regularly, and his work seemed to be more positive. “The less I fed my body on Twizzlers and Turkey Nuggets, the less my brain seemed to tell me I wanted it, and the less motivated I was to try to order it. What I used to struggle with to stop eating has become really inedible for me.
However, for the rest of us, UPF is everywhere. “It’s cheap and accessible to many, and I strongly believe that our addiction to UPF has less to do with a lack of willpower than with the powerful effect it has on our brains,” he says.
This makes quitting smoking difficult, but theoretically possible. “Obviously, food is not addictive, it’s a proven fact,” says Van Talleken, “but the truth is that it is; It’s not “real” foods that cause addiction, but UPF, also known as “processed edibles,” which I loved so much.
Chris Van Tulleken’s new book, Overprocessed People: Why We’re All Eating Something That’s Not Food…and Why Can’t We Stop? now available
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.