Hyper Palatability
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Hyper palatability refers to foods that combine certain nutrients in ways that significantly enhance their taste, making them difficult to resist. These combinations often don't occur naturally, and they can drive overeating by bypassing natural satiety mechanisms in the brain.
explains that hyper palatable foods often involve combining individual ingredients like butter, salt, and sour cream to transform otherwise bland foods, such as a baked potato, into something incredibly tempting. This enhanced palatability can lead to consuming hundreds of extra calories effortlessly 1.
the , elaborates that these hyper palatable combinations, such as fat and sodium or carbohydrates and sodium, can excessively activate brain reward systems and delay feelings of fullness. This makes it easy to overeat these foods, which are often found in both processed items and home-cooked meals 2 3.In terms of broader impacts, highlights that the hyperpalatability trend contributes to rising obesity rates by making everyday foods exceptionally appealing and harder to resist, even without sugar being present. This includes meat products that have been engineered to be more flavorful through fat and salt enhancements 2 2.
Thus, hyper palatability significantly affects our eating behaviors and health by creating foods that are extraordinarily appealing and easy to overconsume.
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