Ultra-processed foods should be treated more like cigarettes than food – study

The study concludes that, as with cigarettes, ultra-processed foods such as sweets warrant regulation in proportion to their ‘significant public health risks’. Photograph: Denys Kovtun/Alamy

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have more in common with cigarettes than with fruit or vegetables, and require far tighter regulation, according to a new report.

UPFs and cigarettes are engineered to encourage addiction and consumption, researchers from three US universities said, pointing to the parallels in widespread health harms that link both.