A study by researchers at three United States universities claims to have identified similarities between the addictive characteristics of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and cigarettes, and has recommended similar levels of regulation.

According to the study, which was published this week in the Milbank Quarterly healthcare journal, UPFs "share key engineering strategies adopted from the tobacco industry" which are designed to drive "compulsive consumption."

The study found that common UPFs like soft drinks, chips and cookies are industrially produced in such a way as to optimize the "doses" of addictive ingredients and encourage overuse.

"UPFs are not just nutrients but [are] intentionally designed, highly engineered and manipulated, hedonically optimized products," it says.

Should UPFs be regulated like tobacco products?

The researchers from Harvard, the University of Michigan and Duke University therefore recommend applying regulatory policies to UPFs similar to those which are now widely applied to tobacco.

These could include clearer labeling, higher taxes, limits on availability in schools and hospitals, and restrictions on child-targeted marketing.

The authors of the study point out that, unlike tobacco, food is necessary for human survival, making the need for UPF regulation even more urgent because "opting out of the modern food supply is difficult."

The findings come two months after a UNICEF study published in The Lancet in December revealed the extent of UPF consumption among young children in 11 different countries.

The study found that 10-35% of children aged five and under already regularly consumed sweet soft drinks, while 60% of teenagers admitted to having eaten at least one UPF product the day before.

UPFs in Africa: 'Growing public health alarm'

In developed countries, the study found that over 50% of people's calorie intake is derived from potentially harmful UPFs – but poorer developing countries are also increasingly at risk.

Responding to the Milbank Quarterly study, Githinji Gitahi, the chief executive of Kenya-based NGO Amref Health Africa, warned of a "growing public health alarm" across Africa.

"Corporate [organizations] have found a comfortable, and profitable, nexus: weak government regulation on harmful products and a changing pattern of consumption," he told The Guardian. "This places new and preventable pressures on already stretched health systems."

Others, however, have cautioned against drawing too many parallels between UPFs and tobacco, suggesting the latest study risks "overreach" in its conclusions.

Speaking to The Guardian, Professor Martin Warren, chief scientific officer at the Quadram Institute, a specialist food research center in the United Kingdom, questioned whether UPFs were "intrinsically addictive in a pharmacological sense, or whether they mainly exploit learned preferences, reward conditioning and convenience."

Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher