Processed junk foods you had no idea were once made by cigarette giants – from Oreos to Kool-Aid and Kraft Mac & Cheese

They knowingly got a generation hooked on cigarettes; Now, research suggests that Big Tobacco also fueled America’s obesity crisis.

A study earlier this month found that for decades, foods like Teddy Grams and Hawaiian Punch sold by manufacturers owned by tobacco giants were up to 80 percent more likely to be ultra-processed than similar foods from non-tobacco companies.

These “hyperpalatable” foods, also known as ultra-processed foods, are full of fat, sodium, sugar and hard-to-pronounce additives and have been linked to several long-term health problems, including dementia and early childhood illness. death.

About 60 years ago, when the government passed regulations on cigarettes, tobacco companies ventured into the food business to diversify their portfolios. This led them to acquire prominent companies such as Nabisco and Kraft.

Mountains of studies show that eating too many processed foods dramatically increases the risk of premature death, dementia, and heart disease.

Although tobacco companies no longer produce food, the research team called for better regulation of ultra-processed foods, comparing them to tobacco products before restrictions were imposed.

‘These products have become very prevalent in today’s American food environment. “Despite growing scientific evidence on the addictive properties of HPF, there are no federal regulations addressing the accessibility of HPF,” the University of Kansas researchers wrote.

‘The state of the food environment for American consumers bears a striking resemblance to the American environment in the 1950s during the tobacco epidemic, before the US federal government regulated the availability of tobacco products.

“Similar efforts are needed to regulate HPF availability, in light of our evidence indicating that tobacco companies themselves may have been influential in changing the profile of American foods toward greater palatability.”

The study, published in the journal Addictionanalyzed food brands that were owned by tobacco companies between 1980 and 2001.

Ultra-processed foods were classified as HPF fat and sodium or HPF carbohydrate and sodium, meaning they had high levels of those nutrients.

The team used data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to identify which food brands were owned by tobacco companies Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds between 1988 and 2018. Kraft, Nabisco and Oscar Meyer, which make products such as Teddy Grams, Lunchables and Kool-Aid were among the most popular. They compared those foods to 587 similar products sold by competing non-tobacco-owned brands.

They found that tobacco-owned foods were 29 percent more likely to be classified as HPF for fat and sodium and 80 percent more likely to be considered HPF for carbohydrates and sodium than foods from non-tobacco-owned brands. tobacco companies during this period.

“Companies specializing in the creation of addictive tobacco products led the development of the American food system for (more than) 20 years,” the researchers wrote.

Processing involves adding or altering raw ingredients, such as storing them in oil or adding sugar or salt.

Foods like apples are usually exactly as they appear in nature and are classified as minimally processed.

Processed foods, like applesauce, have gone through at least one level of processing that has changed their original form.

Ultra-processed foods have gone through multiple levels of processing and are usually full of fats, dyes, and very hard-to-pronounce preservatives. They target reward systems in the brain, similar to those triggered by tobacco products and illicit drugs.

Microwavable meals, snack mixes, and ice cream are common examples.

These foods have become ubiquitous in the American diet.

TO 2022 A study from Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute, for example, estimated that 73 percent of the U.S. food supply is ultra-processed.

And a study published in Frontiers in nutrition found that more than 60 percent of America’s caloric intake comes from these foods.

Mountains of studies show that eating too many processed foods dramatically increases the risk of premature death, dementia, and heart disease.

A 2022 study A study published in the journal Neurology, for example, found that a 10 percent increase in the consumption of ultra-processed foods could increase the risk of dementia.

Furthermore, a large cohort study in France found that the same increase in ultra-processed foods led to an increased risk of breast cancer.

And a couple of studies by researchers from Spain and France found an association between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and an increased risk of premature death.

Although tobacco companies no longer have a stake in food production, the study’s authors believe other companies reformulated their foods to make them as ultra-processed and addictive as those sold by their competitors.