The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Syed Jamal teachers college-level chemistry, biology and anatomy/physiology and researches phytoremediation and cancer biology.
A healthy breakfast of fruits and boiled eggs followed by a lunch of baked potato with broccoli and cheese can keep us going until a dinner of bread, salad, and poultry or fish. Little trash will be generated since the banana peel and eggshells could be thrown into the compost — my wife won’t let me throw them directly under the plants.
Now, if fruits and vegetables are so tasty, why do kids and adults love popcorn, hotdogs and cakes, despite all the warnings that are given about the hazards of processed food? Households are not alone. School lunches also contain processed food.
So what makes many of us get hooked on processed food from an early age?
It is mostly due to biological and sociocultural reasons. Processed food just tastes good. Taste, just like music, is connected to memory, and to the reward centers of our brains. Many of us remember how tasty grandma’s cooking used to be. Now, if we get donuts for breakfast as kids, we tend to crave those donuts.
Processed foods have undergone some physical or chemical change during preparation. Examples of processed foods that have gone through a physical change would include frozen, canned, dried or baked food. Chemical alterations to food would be done by adding salt, sugar or fat, to name a few. Sometimes, taste enhancers are added to food, including monosodium glutamate (MSG) or nucleotides like inosonine monophosphate (IMP) and guanosine monophosphate (GMP). Taste enhancers are typically added to soups, sauces, gravies and snacks to impart umami (the fifth kind of taste we can perceive, alongside sweet, sour, spicy and salty).
Fast food is an extreme example of processing: Canned or frozen food laced with sugar and salt and laden with fat is heated and wrapped in packages for customers. The packaging itself can be detrimental to health since harmful chemicals, such as phosphates and phthalates, can leak into the food. This poses a threat to the United States because processed food has become an integral part of the diets of many American families.
In Kansas alone, about 34% of adults weigh more on the scales than they should, and one can relate this statistic to our eating habits.
Processed foods have become the American way, with so many people working and children attending schools. For families on the move, fast food is quick and convenient. Examples of highly processed foods include cheese, cakes, pies, pastries, microwave meals, processed meat and canned vegetables.
Not all processed foods are necessarily harmful. In fact, some foods, such as milk, need to be processed to inactivate harmful microbes. However, processing foods almost invariably includes adding salt, sugar and fat.
Recent research suggests that increased use of processed foods can be associated with a higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Too much salt, sugar and fat in your diet can lead to serious health issues, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer.
A group of researchers led by Terra Fazzino at the University of Kansas used nutrition software to analyze more than 7,000 food items in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food and nutrient database in order to identify which combinations of carbohydrates, fats and sodium make foods hyperpalatable. Foods that combine sodium and sugar (such as pretzels), combine sugar and fat (ice cream and cake) or combine fat and sodium (bacon and hotdogs) were super tasty. They found that almost two-thirds of the foods listed in the database met the criteria for being hyperpalatable.
All of this leads one to suspect that processed foods are designed to make you overeat. And you can become nearly addicted to them. Functional MRI studies in young women have shown that viewing pictures of hyperpalatable foods stimulates the reward circuitry of the brain.
These hyper-palatable foods are also linked to waste disposal. In some large cities the amount of organic waste accounts for almost 70% of the total waste generated. Processed food that is not consumed along with its packaging ends up in landfills.
Kansas legislators, local governments and school boards should realize that hyperpalatable processed foods have contributed to the rise of obesity in the state and consider regulating the increasing use of sugar, salt, fat, taste enhancers and other additives in food. Lowering the consumption of processed foods can help reduce rising rates of diabetes, obesity and cancer in addition to lowering trash generation.
Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
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August 17, 2021 at 03:40PM
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Bad for us but oh so tasty: Processed foods seem designed to encourage overeating - Kansas Reflector
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