Introduction
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a 30-million person community of scientists, policy experts, lawyers, data experts, and others that works to protect environmental health by changing industry standards (Who We Are, 2020). Unfortunately, the EWG has many areas from which to choose for its good work and keeps a list of these under its Areas of Focus where it shares its news freely, including Food and Water where the EWG takes aim at ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Indeed, American adults eat over 50% of their daily calories as UPFs and that figure is closer to 67% for kids and teens, arguably due to the addictive nature of UPFs (What Are Ultra-processed Foods?, 2024). This post will dig deeper into those concerns and offer practical solutions to help consumers make healthier shopping choices.
Ultra-Processed Foods and You
Food Addiction
Using the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), Gearhardt et al. (2023) reviewed nearly 300 studies from 36 countries and found that, on the whole, 14% of adults and 12% of children showed signs of food addiction and that number went up for those subjects with clinical diagnoses (e.g., 32% for obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery). Indeed, the refined carbohydrates and fats found in UPFs have a similar affect on the brain that one finds additives substances like cigarettes and alcohol (Gearhardt et al., 2023). Even in light of these concerns that UPFs behave like an addictive substance, have been linked to numerous health issues (Gearhardt et al., 2023), and likely contain toxicants from conventional agriculture practices (Crinnion & Pizzorno, 2018), health and policy experts have not reclassified UPFs as addictive substances that might be regulated like tobacco and alcohol (Gearhardt et al., 2023).
But You Are In Control
For those who may already fall into the percentages of people who are addicted to these UPF food-like substances, it may be time to enlist professional help to break the addiction. For those not yet caught in the throes of addiction, there may be useful technologies and behaviors to help correct food choices and avoid addiction.
Ljusic et al. (2023) conducted a study with 405 participants in the UK using a hypothetical online store to determine how effective three different models would be in getting consumers to make healthier food purchases. The models Ljusic et al. (2023) used were:
- Self-Monitoring where consumers recorded their previous food choices and were presented with those previous food choices when shopping in order to encourage them to make better choices.
- Pre-Commitment in which consumers committed to making healthier choices before they started shopping so that they receive reminders or prompts during the shopping experience to make healthier purchases.
- Social Comparison that relied on comparing a shopper’s choices to those of others, presenting how other consumers are making healthy food choices to create a sense of competition or social pressure or give consumers an option to copy others.
All three models showed improvements in healthy food purchases, though the effectiveness was impacted by other variables like how impulsive the consumer was. Which one (or multiple) could you adopt and follow?
Perception Is Reality
In a study of BMI relation to food shopping among residents of low-income communities in South Carolina, the results had a particularly interesting turn when the authors found that the less focus a person gave to the problem of food access the lower the BMI and, conversely, the more a person focused on the the problem of food access the higher the BMI (Liese et al., 2017). The authors went on to explain that the correlations between focus on access and BMI may owe to other factors such as what kinds of stores people frequent (e.g., supercenters like WalMart vs a local supermarket) (Liese et al., 2017). This will likely continue to be an area of ongoing research but the correlation between BMI and participant views is notable.
Conclusion
It is a given that UPFs exist and that all but a very select few who live entirely off the land consume these UPFs. This is unlikely to change at the policy level in the foreseeable future, even with admirable work from groups like the EWG. However, you can make a difference in your own health and the health of family and friends. Pick a strategy that appeals to you (e.g., Self-Monitoring, Pre-Commitment, Social Comparison) and start to track and/or share your shopping experiences using applications like Yuka or EWG’s Healthy Living (to compare food choices), Instagram (for social sharing), and Recipe Keeper (to track shopping lists and recipes). Assess what shopping venues inspire you consistently toward healthy purchases (e.g., online stores, farmers’ markets, etc) and where you are pulled into conflicting purchases (e.g., SuperCenters). Make notes and take actions because your dollars should go toward your health and not to feed a future addiction that only benefits UPF manufacturers.
References
Gearhardt, A. N., Bueno, N. B., DiFeliceantonio, A. G., Roberto, C. A., Jiménez-Murcia, S., & Fernandez-Aranda, F. (2023). Social, clinical, and policy implications of ultra-processed food addiction. BMJ, 2023(383), e075354. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-075354
Liese, A., Ma, X., Hutto, B., Sharpe, P., Bell, B., & Wilcox, S. (2017). Food shopping and acquisition behaviors in relation to bmi among residents of low-income communities in south carolina. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(9), 1075. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14091075
Ljusic, N., Fagerstrøm, A., Sigurdsson, V., & Arntzen, E. (2023). Information, ingestion, and impulsivity: The impact of technology-enabled healthy food labels on online grocery shopping in impulsive and non-impulsive consumers. Frontiers in Nutrition, 10, 1129883. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1129883
What are ultra-processed foods? (2024, May 17). Environmental Working Group. https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2024/05/what-are-ultra-processed-foods
Who we are. (2020, September 30). Environmental Working Group. https://www.ewg.org/who-we-are