How Ultra-Processed Foods Are Engineered and Marketed to Make Us Crave Them
Introduction
From sodas and snacks to frozen ready-meals, ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are taking over global diets—despite overwhelming evidence of their health risks. UPFs now account for roughly 70% of packaged products in supermarkets and an even larger share in convenience stores.
In a recent study, we explore how food companies deliberately exploit human psychology and biology to make UPFs seem like the easiest, most rewarding, and most appealing choice. Our findings show that UPFs are intentionally designed to be addictive, then marketed—especially to children—in ways that emphasize convenience, taste, and value, while downplaying serious health harms.
Our attraction to UPFs is no accident. Companies use a range of tactics that tap into how we think, feel, and behave, all to drive up consumption.
What Are Ultra-Processed Foods?
According to The Lancet, UPFs are industrial formulations made from cheap, extracted or derived ingredients (e.g., refined carbohydrates, oils, proteins) combined with additives. The final product contains little to no whole food. These items are heavily branded, marketed, and typically produced by large multinational corporations.
High UPF intake is linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease, depression, and premature death.
Why Do We Keep Eating Them?
Our research set out to answer this question. Instead of blaming individual willpower, we zoomed out to examine the entire system that develops, produces, and markets UPFs. We reviewed a decade of research and worked with food science and marketing experts to create “causal loop diagrams”—maps that reveal reinforcing feedback loops driving the system toward one goal: selling more UPFs.
We found multiple interconnected loops that capture human biology and behavior as key levers.
1. Biologically Addictive Combinations
One loop involves pairing refined carbohydrates and fats. Carbs and fats activate different reward pathways between the gut and brain. When combined, they become addictive. Manufacturers fine-tune these ingredients to hit sensory “sweet spots”—maximizing pleasure and cravings while minimizing negative sensations.
Processing methods also suppress feelings of fullness and speed digestion, delivering a quick but short-lived reward—making us want more, sooner.
2. Marketing That Exploits Human Nature
UPFs are formulated for convenience: easy to store, eat on the go, and perceived as good value. Marketing tactics capture attention and desire, often using health-halo illusions (e.g., “low fat” or “with vitamins”). Strategies targeting children rely on associations with coolness, fun, and popular culture.
Another powerful loop: corporations collect vast data on our purchases and online behavior to deliver targeted digital ads. These ads drive more purchases, generating more data to refine future marketing—creating a self-reinforcing cycle.
3. An Intentional System of Traps
Overall, we identified 11 distinct reinforcing feedback loops. This is the first study to map out the UPF system as a web of psychological and biological traps, designed to replace healthier options and keep people buying and eating more. These product-level loops also connect to financial and economic loops further up the global supply chain.
Why This Matters
In New Zealand, poor diet and excess body weight cause 18% of preventable premature death and disability—both closely linked to high UPF intake. Unfortunately, NZ hasn’t run a national nutrition survey since the 2000s. Based on data from similar countries like Australia, we estimate UPFs make up about half of our daily energy intake.
What Can Be Done?
Diets high in UPFs are not a matter of weak willpower or free choice. They are the result of an intentionally designed system that exploits human nature, especially in children. International experts now frame UPFs as a major global health issue and call for strong government regulation to counter these mechanisms.
Policy leadership already exists, particularly in Latin America. New Zealand could follow other countries by:
Complacency is not an option. The food system must be rebalanced to serve and nourish people—now and in the future.
0 Comments