How the industry makes us addic

As the forties approached, the body of Bérengère Philippon (1) took some curves. Nothing serious, but enough to worry him. In his blood analyzes, his blood sugar also increased. “As I was watched by diabetes, I deleted the sugars of my diet, but my results did not improve. »»

She then examined the food labels she consumed, and there, stupor: Bérengère found sugars where she did not expect it. In most tomato sauces, certain mustards, several vinegars and … a multitude of children’s toothpaste. This sweet mother, now fifty, is still moved: “Incredible!” There are everywhere, and in very different forms. »»

And it’s not just sugars. In the list of ingredients present in processed food products, we also find-and often mixed-fat, salt, additives (texture agents, dyes, anti-agglomerants, etc.), aromas.

70 % of references on the conventional shelves of supermarkets are based on ingredients of industrial origin. Including the famous cordon Bleu: 30 industrial version components, against 7 for homemade!

This growing phenomenon is worrying, because the link between the presence of these ingredients and the dangers for health is now pointed out by multiple scientific studies. According to an American analysis carried out internationally (2), “almost one in five deaths would be caused by poor diet, especially that poor in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts and fish”.

What the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes: “Foods rich in salt, added sugars and trans fatty acids (unsaturated fatty acids, editor’s note) Can harm our health and cause premature mortality. »»

For Mathilde Leconte, the link between poor diet and poor health is obvious. Eight years ago, when this young mother in the Limousin region was diagnosed with hepatic steatosis (disease due to the accumulation of fat in the liver, without alcoholic origin), she stops consuming her favorite sodas, then the processed foods. Thanks to this, in parallel with a regular sports practice, “my pathology had completely disappeared after four months,” she recalls, still amazed.

A third of our diet

And yet, we love, these “health delay bombs”. “Appeared in the 1950s, industrial food gradually developed in the 1970s, then became the norm since the 1980s,” said Anthony Fardet, engineer and researcher at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE). In France, ultra -formed foods constitute nearly a third of the daily calorie intake of an adult, and even 46 % of under 18s (3).

Practical to accommodate, of a moderate price, attractive by their colorful and appetizing packaging, they have imposed themselves because they also correspond to the sociological evolution of meals: fractionation, snacking, decrease in time spent at the table … but also and above all because they have only advantages for industrialists: their ingredients are less expensive than raw materials. It is much cheaper, for example, to introduce aromas of fruit in yogurts rather than real fruits.

All these added substances also have fantastic properties in order to extend the duration of conservation of products, soften the textures, standardize the appearance of food, enhance certain tastes and mask others … “We destroy the basic food to reconstruct it in an inexpensive and very appetizing form”, sums up Anthony Fardet.

The main reason for the surge of processed products in the stalls is there: they are so attractive that consumers ask for more. “Industrialists design them precisely to cause excessive consumption,” denounces Karine Jacquemart, director general of the NGO Foodwatch France (4), who deciphers the drifts of the food system.

The effect of sugar on the brain

Take the sugar, the most common ingredient in processed products. Its presence corrects the acidity of the tomatoes, gives a taste of caramel to sodas, brings softness to the breads in sachets, fixes the color of the ham but, above all, makes you want to buy the product. His accomplice? Our brain. Sugar increases blood sugar (speed of absorption of sugar in the blood), causes a feeling of sudden energy, this peak being quickly followed by a drop encouraging to consume it again.

In addition, he activates the powerful circuit of the reward: “A sweet bite causes an intense sensation by releasing the hormone of pleasure, dopamine”, explains Dr. Pascal Melin, hepatologist at the Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne) hospital and president of SOS Hepatitis. This specialist does not hesitate to speak of a real “behavioral addiction” to sugars, which would suffer “20 % of the population”.

To optimize their effects, manufacturers often associate them with other components: fat – Ah, ultra -ferry ice creams! – salt – yum, chips, burgers, cookies … Combining fats, sugars, salt or aromas makes it possible to solicit different meanings: a melting, creamy or crunchy texture thus summons taste and hearing.

Did you know that manufacturers patiently developed the joyful cracking of milk poured on cereals or “pop” at the opening of a soda can, so that they are as pleasant as possible? It is still necessary that these ingredient cocktails are not too disgusting. In the 1970s, an American psychosociologist determined the “bliss point” of a product. This is the moment when the pleasure of a food reaches its maximum; Beyond that, we switch to the unpleasant. It is this intense experience that industrialists are aimed at, with the support of advanced researchers.

The result of these commercial strategies is hardly surprising: we consume far too many carbohydrates. While the WHO recommends 25 g per day, 87 % of children and 47 % of adults are largely exceeding this dose in France. And for good reason: “carbohydrates are hidden in processed foods which are generally not considered as sweet and which are largely highlighted by mass distribution”, denounces Karine Jacquemart.

A recent Foodwatch France survey notes that promotions massively offer these processed foods. “The food industry does not only use the classic sugars of cane or beet but many other molecules with unidentifiable names,” abounds Dr. Jacques Fricker, nutritionist (5). On the labels, sugar can thus appear under… 52 different terms.

The cause of our ills

Swallowed in large quantities, subject to processes that fracture their structure, impoverished in nutritional qualities, these products threaten our health. “They train overweight and obesity, which make the bed of serious inflammatory diseases: diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular problems …” sums up Dr Pascal Melin.

A recent survey of 10 million people (6) reveals that high exposure to ultra -formed food is associated with an increased risk of … 32 health problems – cancers, cardiovascular, respiratory and digestive diseases, chronic diseases such as diabetes, mental health disorders and premature deaths

Dr. Pierre-Vladimir Ennezat, cardiologist at CHU Henri-Mondor de Créteil (Val-de-Marne), describes the mechanisms: “The sugar present in these products is mainly fructose. This one, not very satisfied, is only absorbed by the liver which, when there are many, does not manage to treat it and therefore stores it in the form of … fat. »»

In too large quantities, sugar therefore gives bad fat, which then lodges deep in certain cells. It also has the effect of stiffening the arteries, of disturbing the intestinal microbiota, of making our organizations oldly age.

Industrialists defend themselves by indicating that they respect legislation to the letter. Since 2009, they have renewed with advertising agencies, advertisers, digital platforms, patient and consumer associations a charter – based on volunteering – aimed at braking junk food with young people.

But for many doctors and associations, it is more than time that the public authorities are grasping the effects of transformed food. Perhaps this fall, on the occasion of the new National Health Nutrition Program?

1. Last book: I prepare my menopause and live it well (Ed. Larousse).
2. The Lancet, May 2019.
3. Inserm article, April 2024.
4. Author of Dangers of our diet (Payot ed.).
5. Eat intelligent (Ed. Odile Jacob).
6. The British Medical Journal, February 2024.