We, as humans, are biologically programmed since hunter-gatherer times to seek out "energy dense foods" (aka "high calorie" foods) for survival. However, over the years, companies have engineered well-designed formulas to create food and drink that are "highly palatable" - encouraging our brains to consume more of said product. Palatability is a major driver of eating behavior.
In a recent study, as many as 13% of older adults are addicted to highly processed comfort foods like "chips, cookies, and fast foods".
How does this happen?
A part of this is definitely the toxic "diet culture" that has infiltrated our culture with the "all or nothing" mentality that you'll "eat well" during the week, then allow yourself to "indulge" on the week as a form of reward. This has been psychologically proven to lead to not only lead to more unwanted weight gain in the long run, but also body image dissatisfaction and low self esteem for not being able to "stick to the diet".
That said, another side of the coin is the very unfortunate artifical manipulation of foods over the past century.
What makes a food "palatable" or pleasant to consume?
Researchers have recently dug into what exactly makes a food "highly palatable" or pleasant to consume. They analyzed which aspects of meals were contributing to how much of the meal was consumed. Three things were at play:
- meal energy density (i.e.: # of calories)
- the quantity of hyper-palatable foods on the plate
- how fast the meals were consumed
Depending on how each of these three categories played into the meal determined how many calories were consumed - either at a satisfactory amount OR overconsumption.
Of note, the data was taken across 4 different types of "diets" (1) low-carbohydrate, (2) low-fat, (3) unprocessed / whole food consumption, and - lastly - (4) highly processed foods.
Hyper-palatability of a food is determined by three pairings in a certain food:
- combinations of fat and sodium (example: hot dogs / bacon)
- combinations of fat and simple sugars (example: cake, ice cream and biscuits)
- combinations of carbohydrates and sodium (crackers, pretzels and popcorn)
After entering zillions of foods into a database, the researchers were able to consistently peg 8,000 foods as "hyper-palatable". "Interestingly, nearly half (49%) of products labelled as low-, reduced-, or no sugar, fat, or sodium also met the criteria for being hyper-palatable."
The lead researcher, Fazzino, makes a key point in the article:
It seems as though many of the ["no sugar, no sodium, low, etc/"] products were made with a focus on reducing one key ingredient...However, there were other ingredients included in the foods which resulted in them meeting our definition of hyper-palatability. So, while the foods were reduced in one key ingredient, it appeared as though other ingredients may have been included, possibly in a compensatory manner, to improve flavour or related characteristics.”
eating a mixture of fats, carbs, and proteins at a meal can ensure satiety (fullness) and longer lasting energy.
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