Ultraprocessed Food Addiction Common Among Midlife Women, Study Finds

Even if you try your best to eat a mostly healthful diet, who among us doesn’t enjoy chips, cookies, frozen pizza, soda or candy on occasion? Homemade versions of these foods are generally healthier, but many Americans get their snack fixes through ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), mass-produced packaged foods that contain industrially processed ingredients and often high amounts of sugar, refined carbs, sodium and fats.

While most health experts agree that these foods are fine as a once-in-a-while treat, a growing body of evidence links regular consumption of UPFs to health risks and chronic conditions like obesity, heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes. They’re prevalent in American diets, too: UPFs are estimated to make up almost 70% of the U.S. food supply and nearly 60% of U.S. adults’ caloric consumption, meaning those who eat them may be forgoing more nutritious foods in their stead.

A recent study published last month in the journal Addiction looked at addiction to ultraprocessed foods and found that among adults ages 50 to 80, women were twice as likely as men to be addicted. Women ages 50-64 had the highest rate of addiction compared to other groups in the cohort.

Flow Space spoke with experts to dig into why midlife women might be at greater risk of ultraprocessed food addiction.

How Researchers Examined Ultraprocessed Food Addiction in Midlife

To look at ultraprocessed food addiction, researchers used 2022 data from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging (NPHA) for about 2,000 adults ages 50-80. The sample was nationally representative.

Researchers asked questions aligned with clinical assessments used to diagnose substance abuse disorders, for example related to attempts to limit eating UPFs, cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Participants also answered questions about their social, physical and emotional well-being.

Compared to men, women were twice as likely to be addicted to eating ultraprocessed foods. About 21% of women ages 50-64 met the criteria for addiction, the highest rate within the cohort. Certain symptoms that signaled addictive food behavior were also more common among women, like inability to decrease intake, greater cravings and distress about their consumption.

The authors of this study noted that the youngest women in the cohort who notched the highest addiction rates were kids and teens right when these foods started to flood the U.S. food supply; research has found that childhood eating habits can heavily influence adult ones. They also found associations between higher levels of addiction and poorer social, physical and mental well-being.

There are some limitations to consider: the survey happened in July 2022 during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many people adopted eating behaviors outside their norms, said Christopher Combs, professor of clinical psychology and behavioral science the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, who noted that these findings were based on survey data and not a clinical trial. Plus, he pointed out that there isn’t one clear definition of what an ultraprocessed food is and that many of these metrics were measured by having participants answer one question only.

Still, he said the findings are useful in identifying possible risk factors for addiction to ultraprocessed foods.

Why Midlife Women Might Be More Likely To Be Addicted to Ultraprocessed Food

Priya Fielding-Singh, director of policy programs at the GW Global Food Institute and author of How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Study of Food and Inequality, told Flow Space that the link between adolescent exposure and later in life addiction made sense considering the youngest women in the cohort, ages 50-64, were coming of age as these foods flooded the American food system.

She noted that currently, but especially during the 1970s and 1980s, UPFs were heavily marketed to women in the context of convenience and diet and weight control. Think: easy snacks for right after school, TV dinners dinners that required minimal prep and low-fat cookies you could still eat while dieting. Marketing and availability could’ve cemented UPFs in these womens’ diets from an early age.

“I do think that there is something really interesting about the author’s suggestion that there could be something around decades of early life exposure plus targeted marketing that may have hardwired stronger cravings and increased vulnerability to addictive-style eating of ultraprocessed foods later in life,” she said.

Midlife can be especially stressful for women because of caregiving, careers, family, menopause and more. Additionally, research has found that women are more susceptible to eating in response to stressors.

“If you combine that with the fact that ultraprocessed foods are literally engineered to be highly rewarding, that kind of stress eating can reinforce these cravings and habitual patterns that [researchers] see within this metric,” explained Fielding-Singh. “An increased vulnerability or susceptibility to emotional eating patterns over decades might combine with UPFs more addictive properties to amplify women’s risk.”

Combs also pointed out that some cultural norms position these foods as key parts of emotional processing and stress relief for women, like eating junk food to get over heartbreak. This may make it more socially acceptable for women to eat them more often, he said.

What To Do If You Think You’re Addicted to Ultraprocessed Foods

Speak with a doctor or mental health professional to deal with an ultraprocessed food addiction. Combs said treating food addiction can be tricky, partially because of stigma and also because everyone has to eat. A professional can help identify triggers and create plans and coping strategies to make it easier to choose more nutritious foods.

“You can look at situations that are problematic for them, try to help them to regulate their emotional reaction so they’re less inclined to eat something too ultrprocessed and to basically restructure their kitchen,” he said.