Generation X women represent the pioneering cohort of Americans raised in an environment saturated with ultra-processed foods—items typically packed with excessive fats, salts, sugars, and artificial flavor enhancers. During their childhood and early adulthood, these products, meticulously engineered for maximum palatability, exploded onto the market in unprecedented numbers.
Recent research reveals that 21 percent of women and 10 percent of men from Generation X and the latter part of the Baby Boomer generation—individuals now in their 50s and early 60s—exhibit symptoms consistent with addiction to these ultra-processed foods.
This prevalence significantly surpasses that observed in adults who matured a mere decade or two prior, encountering such foods only upon reaching adulthood. In contrast, among those aged 65 to 80, only 12 percent of women and 4 percent of men satisfy the addiction criteria for ultra-processed foods.
Conducted by a team at the University of Michigan and published in the journal Addiction, the study draws from nationally representative data collected via the U-M National Poll on Healthy Aging, which surveyed over 2,000 older Americans.
Housed at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and backed by Michigan Medicine, U-M’s academic medical center, this poll forms the foundation for the new analysis. The publication expands on an earlier poll report by exploring generational variations in depth and their ties to health outcomes.
Assessing Food Addiction in an Overlooked Demographic
The investigators employed the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (mYFAS 2.0), a validated instrument derived from substance use disorder diagnostic standards. This tool evaluates 13 distinct experiences related to ultra-processed foods and beverages that signify addiction, including intense cravings, persistent failed efforts to reduce intake, withdrawal effects, and withdrawal from social engagements due to overeating concerns.
Here, the addictive agent shifts from substances like alcohol or nicotine to highly palatable ultra-processed options such as desserts, fast-food items, and sugar-laden drinks. By imposing clinical addiction frameworks on these foods, the research illuminates how they can ensnare consumers.
“Our goal with this study is to address a critical knowledge gap regarding ultra-processed food addiction in older populations, utilizing a rigorously tested and standardized measurement tool,” stated Lucy K. Loch, a graduate student in the U-M Department of Psychology. “Contemporary older adults navigated a pivotal developmental phase amid a transformed national food landscape. Given substantial evidence linking these foods to chronic illnesses and early mortality, examining addiction in this demographic is vital.”
Gender-Based Variations
In stark contrast to conventional substance use disorders—which have traditionally affected older men at higher rates—addiction to ultra-processed foods displays an inverted trend, with greater incidence among older women.
A potential contributing factor involves the intense marketing of “diet” ultra-processed products targeted at women during the 1980s. Items like reduced-fat cookies, ready-to-heat meals, and carb-dense offerings were pitched as ideal for weight management, yet their manipulated nutritional compositions likely perpetuated compulsive consumption habits.
Females currently between 50 and 64 years old may have encountered ultra-processed foods during a vulnerable developmental stage, offering insight into the survey results for this cohort, according to senior author Ashley Gearhardt, Ph.D., a U-M psychology professor and IHPI affiliate. Gearhardt directs the U-M Food and Addiction Science & Treatment Lab.
“The figures from this dataset dramatically exceed those for problematic use of other addictive agents like alcohol and tobacco among older adults,” Gearhardt observed. “Moreover, we identify robust connections to health and social disconnection, with substantially elevated addiction risks among those rating their mental or physical health as fair or poor, or reporting frequent feelings of isolation.”
Core Insights on Body Weight Perception, Health, and Loneliness
- Self-Perceived Overweight Status:
- Women aged 50 to 80 who identified as overweight were over 11 times more prone to meet ultra-processed food addiction criteria compared to those who viewed their weight as appropriate. For men reporting overweight status, the likelihood was 19 times higher.
- Regardless of age, 33 percent of women self-describing as overweight, 13 percent of those slightly overweight, and 17 percent of overweight men qualified for addiction. Within the overall sample, 31 percent of women and 26 percent of men considered themselves overweight, while 40 percent of women and 39 percent of men saw themselves as slightly overweight.
- Overall Health Condition:
- Men with fair or poor mental health were four times more likely to exhibit ultra-processed food addiction; women in similar mental health categories were nearly three times as likely.
- Regarding physical health, men with fair or poor ratings faced three times the risk, and women nearly twice the risk of meeting addiction thresholds.
- Social Isolation Experiences: Both men and women reporting occasional or frequent isolation were more than three times as likely to meet ultra-processed food addiction criteria compared to those without such feelings.
The authors posit that people who see themselves as overweight could be especially susceptible to “health-washed” ultra-processed products—those advertised as low-fat, low-calorie, protein-rich, or fiber-fortified, yet designed to heighten palatability and trigger cravings.
“Marketed as nutritious choices, these items pose particular challenges for calorie-conscious individuals,” Gearhardt explained. “This issue disproportionately impacts women due to pervasive societal expectations around body weight.”
Future Implications
As Gearhardt emphasized, the current cohort of adults in their 50s and early 60s marks the inaugural group to spend the majority of their lives amid a food ecosystem dominated by ultra-processed items.
“These results prompt pressing inquiries into whether specific developmental periods heighten susceptibility to ultra-processed food addiction,” she remarked. “Today’s youth ingest even larger shares of calories from ultra-processed sources than middle-aged adults did during their formative years. Should these patterns persist, subsequent generations might experience escalated addiction rates in later life.”
She further noted, “Similar to other addictive substances, early interventions could prove crucial in mitigating lifelong addiction risks.”
Study Background
Funding for the research came from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (DGE-2241144) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse under the National Institutes of Health (5R01DA055027).
Besides Loch and Gearhardt, collaborators included Matthias Kirch, M.S., Dianne C. Singer, M.P.H., Erica Solway, Ph.D., M.S.W., M.P.H., J. Scott Roberts, Ph.D., and poll director Jeffrey T. Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H., M.S. Roberts serves on the faculty at the U-M School of Public Health, while Kullgren is affiliated with the U-M Medical School and practices primary care at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.
