Overview

• Published in Addiction, the University of Michigan analysis reports that 21% of women and 10% of men in their 50s and early 60s meet criteria for addiction-like responses to ultra-processed foods.
• Rates were substantially lower among adults 65 to 80, where 12% of women and 4% of men met the same criteria.
• Researchers used the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 on a nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 older Americans from the U‑M National Poll on Healthy Aging.
• Meeting criteria correlated strongly with self-perceived overweight status as well as poorer mental and physical health and with social isolation, with some groups showing several-fold higher likelihood.
• Authors hypothesize that 1980s marketing of “diet” ultra-processed products to women may have contributed to the gender pattern and they warn that earlier intervention could be crucial as younger cohorts consume more of these foods.