Should These Foods Be More Regulated?

February 17, 2026By Ivy Lee

We all know food fuels our lives — but a large portion of what many people eat every day isn’t truly food in the way nature intended. What if major segments of our diet are engineered to keep us coming back for more — the same way cigarettes were in the last century?

That’s not speculation — that’s the conclusion of ongoing public-health analysis that’s turning heads and raising serious questions about how ultra-processed foods aren’t just unhealthy… but designed to drive overconsumption.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are industrially manufactured products that undergo multiple steps of processing and often contain high levels of added sugars, salt, and fats, along with flavor enhancers, colorings, emulsifiers, and other additives.

Examples include:

Soft drinks and sweetened beverages
Packaged snacks and chips
Fast food
Sweetened cereals and ready-to-eat meals

Unlike minimally processed whole foods — things like fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, nuts, and lean proteins — UPFs are crafted for taste, convenience, and shelf life — not nutrition.

Here’s the part that has public-health experts sounding the alarm: researchers from Harvard, the University of Michigan, and Duke University argue that ultra-processed foods share key characteristics with tobacco products — including how they’re engineered and marketed. That’s not a casual comparison.

According to the report, UPFs are designed to hit the brain’s reward pathways quickly and intensely. Much like nicotine in cigarettes, this can create patterns of compulsive consumption that are hard for many people to control ¹ — even when they know the foods aren’t good for them.

Marketing claims like “low fat” or “sugar-free” are also likened to early tobacco advertising that touted misleading safety benefits — a tactic sometimes called health washing.

Not Just Empty Calories — Documented Health Risks

Multiple large studies have linked diets heavy in ultra-processed foods with a long list of serious health outcomes. Most convincing evidence shows associations with:

Heart disease and hypertension
Type 2 diabetes and obesity
Certain cancers
Mental health disorders
Premature mortality

An umbrella review of dozens of cohort studies involving millions of people found that higher UPF consumption is consistently associated with higher risks of chronic illness and death. ³

Another systematic analysis showed that even modest increases in ultra-processed food intake were linked to higher rates of high blood pressure, heart events, cancer, digestive disease, and overall mortality.

Should We Regulate Ultra-Processed Foods Like Tobacco?

Now here’s the provocative question experts are asking:

If UPFs are engineered to promote addiction and contribute to widespread, preventable disease, shouldn’t we treat them more like cigarettes — with stricter policy, marketing limits, and industry accountability?

Tobacco regulation — think advertising restrictions, litigation, and warning requirements — dramatically shifted public behavior and reduced harm. This new perspective suggests similar public-health approaches might be needed to curb the chronic disease burden linked to ultra-processed foods.

It’s not about telling individuals to “eat less” — it’s about educating people to "eat smarter".

You don’t need to overhaul your diet overnight to take meaningful steps toward better health. Consider:

Focusing on whole, minimally processed foods
Reading ingredient lists for added sugars and unfamiliar additives
Being skeptical of marketing claims like “fat-free” or “light”
Prioritizing meals made from real food over packaged alternatives

Small shifts in what you choose to put on your plate can add up to big improvements in long-term health.

Thanks for joining us in thinking critically about what we eat, and why it matters so deeply — not just for our bodies, but for our communities and global public health.

References:

Gearhardt, A. N., Brownell, K. D., & Brandt, A. M. (2026). From tobacco to ultraprocessed food: How industry engineering fuels the epidemic of preventable disease. The Milbank Quarterly. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0009.70066
Gearhardt, A. N., Bueno, N. B., DiFeliceantonio, A. G., et al. (2023). Social, clinical, and policy implications of ultra-processed food addiction. BMJ, 383, e075354. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10561019/
Lane, M. M., Gamage, E., Du, S., et al. (2024). Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: Umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. BMJ, 384, e077310. https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310