The University of Kansas released a study highlighting the promotion of hyperpalatable foods by tobacco-owned food brands in the U.S. These foods, rich in salts, fats, and sugars, are designed to be irresistible, leading to health issues like obesity. Even though tobacco companies have divested from the food industry, the prevalence of hyperpalatable foods remains high.
Researchers employ a more scholarly term for food items featuring purposely tempting combinations of salts, fats, and sugars: They’re “hyperpalatable.” “Hyperpalatable foods can be irresistible and difficult to stop eating. They have combinations of palatability-related nutrients, specifically fat, sugar, sodium or other carbohydrates that occur in combinations together.”“These combinations of nutrients provide a really enhanced eating experience and make them difficult to stop eating,” she said. “These effects are different than if you just had something high in fat but had no sugar, salt, or other type of refined carbohydrate.
Fazzino’s co-authors were KU doctoral students Daiil Jun and Kayla Bjorlie, along with Lynn Chollet Hinton, assistant professor of biostatistics and data science at KU Medical Center. “The majority of what’s out there in our food supply falls under the hyperpalatable category,” Fazzino said. “It’s actually a bit difficult to track down food that’s not hyperpalatable. In our day-to-day lives, the foods we’re surrounded by and can easily grab are mostly the hyperpalatable ones. And foods that are not hyperpalatable, such as fresh fruits and vegetables – they’re not just hard to find, they’re also more expensive.