Big tobacco hooked us on ultra-processed foods. It might teach us how to cut back

For many years, tobacco companies created specific marketing strategies, flavor engineering, and processing technologies to make cigarettes addictive. They used these methods to make sure people would keep buying and smoking their products. Then, in the 1980s, these same tobacco companies started acquiring major food firms. For example, Philip Morris owned Kraft General Foods, and RJ Reynolds owned Nabisco. It was during this period that the production of ultra-processed foods significantly increased in the U.S.

Researchers, including Laura Schmidt from the University of California, San Francisco, have studied old tobacco company records. They found that these companies deliberately applied their knowledge of making addictive products to food manufacturing. The very technologies used to make nicotine more appealing and addictive, involving added sugar and artificial flavorings, were transferred to develop ultra-processed foods like salty chips, sugary sodas, and prepackaged meals. This means that foods were designed to be highly desirable and hard to stop eating.

A new series of papers published in the American Journal of Public Health suggests that the fight against over-consumption of ultra-processed foods should follow the model of the 'war on tobacco.' These foods are now a main cause of poor health and chronic diseases in America. Experts believe that the same public health strategies that were successfully deployed to help people quit smoking could help Americans curb their intake of these hyper-palatable foods. This approach aims to reduce the public health impact of these products.