The Ultra-Processed Trap

Dr Joan Ifland on "Is The NOVA Food Classification System Wrong
for True Sugar and Food Addicts?"
LIMITATIONS OF THE ULTRA-PROCESSED FOOD CATEGORY AS APPLIED TO FOOD ADDICTION
Joan Ifland, PhD
INTRODUCTION
There is a need for a system to help people distinguish harmful foods from helpful foods. The NOVA Food Classification System created the Ultra-Processed Food category which has been associated with disease. However, the NOVA system also includes two categories for Culinary
Ingredients and Processed Foods that provide that sugars and flour are safe when used at home as part of a healthy meal to make bread, preserves, drinks, and desserts (Monteiro et al., 2018) . This provision does not take into consideration evidence that these refined carbohydrates are high glycemic index foods which have been shown to trigger addictive neuro-mechanisms. These addictive responses can lead to intense cravings, loss of control over food, and disease consequences. The NOVA system was not designed to address food addiction and
so it does not reflect addictive mechanisms that could cause people to lose control over food and worsen obesity and other diet-related diseases.
Creating a food category system for specific addictive foods would be valuable because it could help people stop loss of control over food and widen use of addiction recovery protocols. Addiction recovery approaches could turn the tide of the epidemic of diet-related diseases. Foodaddiction recovery protocols would take the focus off of ‘eat less, move more’ approaches which have been ineffective. It would put the focus on the addictive properties of specific processed foods, focus on cravings cessation, and encourage elimination of those addictive foods. This
brief paper describes why it is not appropriate to apply NOVA to issues related to processed food addiction and why a system focused on addictive foods would be useful.
CONCLUSION
The attempt to apply the NOVA Food Categorization System to food addiction is inappropriate and possibly dangerous as it could lead food-addicted people to feel safe using sugar and flour at home which could increase cravings triggers and consumption. This could lead to loss of
control over eating and disease consequences. An approach with precedents would be to focus directly on the addictive foods for which there is evidence of addictive properties, develop expert consensus using the Delphi method including existing research. This is the established
approach to demonstrating addictive properties in substances and creates scientifically credible evidence to support treatment and public policy.

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