Carlos A. Monteiro and Geoffrey Cannon

Foods are not all potentially addictive. It is now generally agreed that the foods most liable to be addictive are processed, energy-dense and high in added sugar, fat and/or salt, and typically ultra-processed, with additional characteristics liable to make them addictive. Studies on food addiction should focus upon ultra-processed foods.

… Common ingredients of ultra-processed foods are cheap sources of protein, such as soy and other plant isolates; modified starches and sugars such as maltodextrin, high fructose corn syrup and invert sugar; and oils altered by partial hydrogenation or interesterification. Such mixtures would, by themselves, be unpalatable or disgusting, so cosmetic additives are also used. These include flavours, dyes and other colours; colour and flavour enhancers and many other types of additive. All these are not formally checked for addictive potential, or for impact on brain function …