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Q&A
Dr. Ashley Gearhardt on Addiction and Ultra-Processed Foods
Dr. Ashley Gearhardt Excerpts from our conversation with Dr. Ashley Gearhardt, a psychologist studying compulsive eating at the University of Michigan.
Read the story Dejunking Your Diet: The Drawbacks of Ultra-Processed Foods in NIH News in Health.
Many researchers are trying to understand compulsive consumption of ultra-processed foods and what similarities it may share with drug and alcohol addiction. We still don’t know the answer for sure. Dr. Gearhardt is leading studies to better understand this important research question.
NIHNiH: What are ultra-processed foods?
Gearhardt: It’s foods like cookies, salty snacks, baked goods, frozen pizzas, deli sandwiches, and sausages. They’re cheap, they’re convenient, they’re typicall