Tobacco brands in the United States have been linked to promoting unhealthy, addictive foods that contribute to widespread health problems such as obesity. Many of us are well aware of the addictive properties of many foods sold in the U.S. - what most people refer to as "junk food." In fact, this salty, sweet, high-fat treat accounts for the vast majority of food sold in the United States.

The University of Kansas has released a research report highlighting the promotion of ultra-palatable foods by U.S. tobacco food brands. These foods are high in salt, fat and sugar and are designed to be irresistible, leading to health problems such as obesity. Although tobacco companies have withdrawn their investment from the food industry, the prevalence of super-tasty foods remains high.

The researchers use a more academic term to describe foods that are deliberately enticing combinations of salt, fat and sugar: they are "super delicious."

Now, research by a University of Kansas investigator shows that food brands owned by tobacco companies — which invested heavily in the U.S. food industry in the 1980s — appear to "selectively communicate super-tasty foods to U.S. consumers."

The study was published Sept. 8 in the peer-reviewed journal Addiction.

Research findings and implications

"We used multiple data sources to examine the ways in which U.S. tobacco companies are involved in the promotion and spread of super-palatable foods in the food system," said lead author Tera Fazzino, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Kansas and associate director of the Coffin-Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment at the Lifespan Institute.

"Super-palatable foods make it irresistible and hard to stop eating. They have combinations of nutrients associated with palatability, specifically fat, sugar, sodium or other carbohydrates, that appear together."

Fazzino's previous research showed that 68% of the U.S. food supply today is superpalatable.

"The combination of these nutrients provides a truly enhanced eating experience that makes it difficult to stop eating," she says. "These effects are different than if you just eat foods that are high in fat but without sugar, salt or other types of refined carbohydrates."

Fazzino and her co-authors found that between 1988 and 2001, tobacco foods were 29 percent more likely to be classified as high in fat and sodium and 80 percent more likely to be classified as high in carbohydrates and sodium compared to non-tobacco foods.

Tobacco companies and their intentions

Researchers at the University of Kansas used data from a public repository of internal tobacco industry documents to determine food company ownership, then combed through USDA nutrition data in a longitudinal analysis to estimate the extent to which "high-flavored foods are formulated based on tobacco ownership."

"The question of their intentions -- we can't really tell from this data," Fazzino said. "But what we can say is that there is evidence that tobacco companies have been involved in owning and developing super-tasty foods during the time that they have dominated our food system. Their involvement has been selective, unlike companies that don't have ownership from tobacco companies' parent companies."

Fazzino's co-authors are HKUST doctoral students Daiil Jun and Kayla Bjorlie, and HKUST Medical Center assistant professor of biostatistics and data science Lynn Chollet Hinton.

The HKUST researchers said their investigation was inspired by earlier work by Laura Schmidt at the University of California, San Francisco.

"She and her team found that the same tobacco company was involved in the development and heavy marketing of sugary drinks to children -- that was R.J. Reynolds -- and that Philip Morris was involved in the direct transfer of tobacco marketing strategies that targeted racial and ethnic minority communities in the United States to sell their food products," Fazzino said.

Tasty food today

Although tobacco companies retreated from the U.S. food system in the early to mid-2000s, Big Tobacco's shadow may still linger. New research from Kunming University of Science and Technology found that availability of foods high in fat and sodium (more than 57 percent) and foods high in carbohydrates and sodium (more than 17 percent) remained high in 2018 regardless of prior tobacco ownership, suggesting these foods have become mainstream in the American diet.

"Most of the items in our food supply fall into the super-delicious category," Fazzino said. "Actually, it's a bit difficult to find food that's not super delicious. In our daily lives, most of the foods that are everywhere around us and easy to grab are highly flavorful foods. Foods that are easy to eat, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, are not only hard to find, but also expensive. We actually don't have many choices when it comes to choosing fresh and delicious foods (such as crisp apples) and foods that you can't stop eating."

Fazzino said using a palatable metric could be a way to standardize food recipes designed to induce sustained eating. "The combination of ingredients in these foods can produce effects that would not occur if the ingredients were consumed alone," the researchers said. "These combinations do not occur in nature, so our bodies are not ready to process them. They over-trigger our brain's reward systems and disrupt our satiety signals, which is why they are so irresistible."

As a result, consumers of super-palatable foods are more likely to suffer from obesity and related health consequences, even if they don't intend to overeat.

"These foods may be designed to make you eat more than you planned," says Fazzino. "It's not just a matter of personal choice and paying attention to what you eat—they can trick your body into eating more than you actually want to eat."