Why can't we stop eating certain foods? - BBC

even if they want to cut down even if they know it's killing them they find they can't stop my name is Chris vankin I'm an NHS doctor I'm a scientist and I'm part of a growing group of doctors and academics who are increasingly worried about the effect that the global food system is having on all of us when it comes to obesity the way that we've understood the problem is it's a failure of willpower people are just making bad choices they're somewhat lazy it's basically their fault this is American government data for men and women

of all different ages the different lines of different ages for obesity what you see is between 1960 and 1975 there's a fairly steady percentage of obesity in the population but in the mid 1970s obesity starts going up in all of the groups [Music] simultaneously now if you're saying willpower is responsible what you're proposing is that all of these groups of people simultaneously lost moral responsibility and that's not plausible something else happened to our food in the mid 1970s to make it irresistible to people my name is John Ruff and uh I've spent 40 years in

the food industry across seven different countries companies spent a lot of time optimizing all aspects of their product the flavor The Taste the texture people want their product to be as good it's not better than the competitor um so it will sell more we use train sensory panels to give us ratings is it squishy is it hard is it soft is it crunchy and that's very much how the food industry operates one thing many people don't realize is that factory processing changes the textural properties of food an interesting fact about soft food is you're not

chewing it as much that actually short circuits the normal satiety mechanisms that you would have if you were actually chewing food properly so you're bypassing a normal mechanism that tells you you're full once youve worked out that playing around with the texture of food making it softer tricks that normal satiety or fullness mechanism clearly there's there's an opportunity there for some kind of scarless behavior in making food softer so that people will eat more and therefore you sell more of your [Music] product so much of the packaged food that we eat is incredibly soft [Music]

my kids love these you don't typically think of this as being a soft food because it's a bit crunchy but actually after that initial crunch you can just crush it with your tongue right it's got no resistance at all but in terms of the calories per gram it's got way more calories than even a a very fatty Burger so the softness and the energy density mean that you consume it incredibly quickly and this there a food industry term for these very light puffy foods that melt in the mouth it's called Vanishing caloric density gone the

thing that makes us eat a lot isn't just what we do to the food it's also about logos marketing branding the Box the food comes in [Music] eating is a multi-sensory experience there's the look of the food there's the smell of the food there's the feeling of the food on your fingers even the sound of Food [Music] Matters when you open a fizzy soda you've got two noises you've got the click and The Tear sound engineers and manufacturers work really hard to get that sound just right and that's Sonic branding many companies have asked me

to work on Sonic branding for them and I think I can mention when I was working with Kellogg they said ooh what's Sonic branding and I said you invented this most people will remember as children the experience of lifting a ball to their ear and what are they listening for snap crackle and pop that's Sonic branding at its best and that's the original there's a lot of competition out there and food companies make their money by the amount of products we consume from them so there's a stomach share that they're fighting for and there are

hours in the day in between breakfast lunch and dinner what happens between those hours they want us to snack [Music] you wake up and this is what you have snack number one breakfast shake Ultra processed this is heavily marketed for you to have on the Go Do not sit down do not take time to Crunch through something snack number two of the day it's empty calories energy dense nutrient poor midday you're starting to get a little bit peckish and what do you have veggie straws this is a good example of a health claim snacking product

whereas before we would have had food actual food now we are marketed into believing that this is actually a healthy replacement some snacking products have now been made to be linked with being physically active so after the gym I have a high protein low sugar bar instead of having a healthier option you finish having dinner and you have these snacks that are sold to you as more to share where in fact you can just finish them watching the TV by yourself I do like them and I cannot stop eating them and I literally can't my

God I think one of the biggest problems with this kind of food is that so many of us struggle to stop eating it hi everyone I'm so thrilled to be here today to speak with you on my research looks at parallels between addictive substances and Ultra processed food when we look at the sorts of foods that trigger those key diagnostic indicators of addiction it's really clear what it's not it's not minimally processed foods like fruits or vegetables or beans or lean meats like chicken breast it's really processed foods it's chocolate it's ice cream it's Pizza

it's foods that don't exist in nature the potency and the reward power of these ultr processed foods can trigger an addictive response that leads them to consume these in such a compulsive way that even if they want to cut down even if they know it's killing them they find they can't stop imagine you're trying to cut down an ultra processed food or avoid it altogether forar might be the only food you can afford and that is true for millions of people but it's everywhere and it's engineered and then marketed by some of the smartest people

on Earth to be irresistible so if someone is watching this and they are struggling with their weight with diet related disease I just want to reach out and grab them and go this is not your fault it is not you it is the food the food and drink Federation declined our request for an interview but provided this statement food and drink manufacturers take the issue of obesity and poor diets very seriously and we know we have a key role to play in helping people to eat balanced diets our members continue to invest hundreds of millions

of pounds in creating healthier products for Shoppers as a result UK shopping baskets now contain significantly less salt sugar and calories than they did a decade ago companies are also working to raise the fiber fruit and vegetable content of their products it's of course up to government if they want to introduce new taxes or warning labels however taxes will push up the cost of food and could disincentivize ongoing investment in healthier products we think there are more effective ways to encourage positive dietary change on labeling we believe the UK's traffic light system is a more

positive way of nudging consumers towards healthier choices than warning labels where Global evidence suggest the longer term impact is limited however we would support a labeling review including to test whether consistent positive labeling on all healthier products would help consumers the government's scientific advisory committee on nutrition had said there's insufficient scientific evidence on the concept of ultra processed foods for it to be used for dietary guidance or policym and that further research is needed if research comes to light that processing is a cause of concern the food industry will act quickly to change their ingredients

or processes