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What are bio-beads used for and how did they get spilled on to Camber Sands beach?

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Friday, November 14, 2025

Millions of toxic plastic beads were spilled on to Camber Sands beach, in East Sussex, a few days ago, putting wildlife at risk in what the local MP called an “environmental catastrophe”.Southern Water, the local water company, has taken responsibility for the spill after a mechanical failure at one of its treatment plants, which caused the beads to be released.What are “bio-beads”?These beads are referred to by water companies as “bio-beads”, though they are made of artificial materials.They are tiny plastic pellets used as filters in wastewater treatment. They are used to catch bacteria and other contaminants, and are about 5mm in length and have a dimpled surface to get bacteria to stick to them. They create a film of microorganisms which break down contaminants in water, known as a biofilm.Water treatment centres use billions of these tiny beads in their tanks.Why are they so bad for the natural environment?Firstly, they are plastic, and can be ingested by marine life. They attract algae and smell like food, so are eaten by birds, fish and dolphins, which can be fatal.They will break down into microplastics, which stay in the environment and are almost impossible to remove.The beads on Camber Sands. Photograph: Anna McGrath/The GuardianThey are also sometimes made of waste materials from electronic equipment such as televisions which means that they are contaminated with heavy metals. Studies have found that they contain a high number of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are carcinogenic.Additionally, they are used to soak up bacteria, so they can also spread harmful pathogens into the environment.How do they get spilled?They escape from water treatment centres en masse if the filters break or are not working properly. Also, if untreated sewage is spilled into the environment from these centres at the point at which it is being filtered by plastic beads, the beads will also escape.They can also escape from recycling centres and if the container they were delivered in was damaged.Are they often spilled?Yes, fairly often. A report by the Cornish Plastic Pollution Coalition suggested that Cornwall and the Channel coast are major hotspots for bio-bead pollution within the UK.The Channel is a hotspot for bio-bead spillages. Photograph: Anna McGrath/The GuardianThey stay in the environment as they are so hard to remove. After the recent spill, volunteersspent days on their hands and knees trying to get rid of as many as possible from the beach by hand. However, beads spilled on Camber Sands in two major incidents in 2010 and 2017 are still being found. This most recent spill will therefore probably have a negative impact on the environment for many years.Are there any alternatives for their use?Yes. There are similar products made of glass, which is less harmful to the environment, but these are more costly.Other sustainable options are being developed, including filters made of coconut shells, which biodegrade harmlessly into the environment.Many water companies use fixed filters rather than buoyant, moving beads, which reduces the risk of plastic pollution being spilled into the environment. This includes “bio-blocks” which are solid, porous blocks made from materials such as ceramics, concrete, or polymers, designed to support the growth of biofilm.Water companies can also use electrocoagulation, which involves using electric currents to remove contaminants.

Plastic pellets attract algae and smell like food so can be eaten by birds, fish and dolphins and can cause the animals’ deathsBeads spreading on Sussex coast after ‘catastrophic’ spill, meeting toldMillions of toxic plastic beads were spilled on to Camber Sands beach, in East Sussex, a few days ago, putting wildlife at risk in what the local MP called an “environmental catastrophe”.Southern Water, the local water company, has taken responsibility for the spill after a mechanical failure at one of its treatment plants, which caused the beads to be released. Continue reading...

Millions of toxic plastic beads were spilled on to Camber Sands beach, in East Sussex, a few days ago, putting wildlife at risk in what the local MP called an “environmental catastrophe”.

Southern Water, the local water company, has taken responsibility for the spill after a mechanical failure at one of its treatment plants, which caused the beads to be released.

What are “bio-beads”?

These beads are referred to by water companies as “bio-beads”, though they are made of artificial materials.

They are tiny plastic pellets used as filters in wastewater treatment. They are used to catch bacteria and other contaminants, and are about 5mm in length and have a dimpled surface to get bacteria to stick to them. They create a film of microorganisms which break down contaminants in water, known as a biofilm.

Water treatment centres use billions of these tiny beads in their tanks.

Why are they so bad for the natural environment?

Firstly, they are plastic, and can be ingested by marine life. They attract algae and smell like food, so are eaten by birds, fish and dolphins, which can be fatal.

They will break down into microplastics, which stay in the environment and are almost impossible to remove.

The beads on Camber Sands. Photograph: Anna McGrath/The Guardian

They are also sometimes made of waste materials from electronic equipment such as televisions which means that they are contaminated with heavy metals. Studies have found that they contain a high number of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are carcinogenic.

Additionally, they are used to soak up bacteria, so they can also spread harmful pathogens into the environment.

How do they get spilled?

They escape from water treatment centres en masse if the filters break or are not working properly. Also, if untreated sewage is spilled into the environment from these centres at the point at which it is being filtered by plastic beads, the beads will also escape.

They can also escape from recycling centres and if the container they were delivered in was damaged.

Are they often spilled?

Yes, fairly often. A report by the Cornish Plastic Pollution Coalition suggested that Cornwall and the Channel coast are major hotspots for bio-bead pollution within the UK.

The Channel is a hotspot for bio-bead spillages. Photograph: Anna McGrath/The Guardian

They stay in the environment as they are so hard to remove. After the recent spill, volunteersspent days on their hands and knees trying to get rid of as many as possible from the beach by hand. However, beads spilled on Camber Sands in two major incidents in 2010 and 2017 are still being found. This most recent spill will therefore probably have a negative impact on the environment for many years.

Are there any alternatives for their use?

Yes. There are similar products made of glass, which is less harmful to the environment, but these are more costly.

Other sustainable options are being developed, including filters made of coconut shells, which biodegrade harmlessly into the environment.

Many water companies use fixed filters rather than buoyant, moving beads, which reduces the risk of plastic pollution being spilled into the environment. This includes “bio-blocks” which are solid, porous blocks made from materials such as ceramics, concrete, or polymers, designed to support the growth of biofilm.

Water companies can also use electrocoagulation, which involves using electric currents to remove contaminants.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

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How urban farms can make cities more livable and help feed America

Metropolitan gardens and farms are extraordinarily powerful tools that can improve food security, lower temperatures, and create invaluable gathering spaces.

If you’ve spent any time on a roof, you know that it’s not especially pleasant up there — blazing in the summer, frigid and windy in the winter. Slap some solar panels up there, though, and the calculus changes: Shaded from gusts and excessive sunlight, crops can proliferate, a technique known as rooftop agrivoltaics. And because that hardware provides shade, evaporation is reduced, resulting in big water savings. Plus, all that greenery insulates the top floor, reducing energy costs. Long held in opposition to one another, urban areas are embracing elements of the rural world as they try to produce more of their own food, in community gardens on the ground and agrivoltaics up above. In an increasingly chaotic climate, urban agriculture could improve food security, generate clean electricity, reduce local temperatures, provide refuges for pollinators, and improve mental and physical health for urbanites, among other benefits.  With relatively cheap investments in food production — especially if they’ve got empty lots sitting around — cities can solve a bunch of problems at once. Quezon City in the Philippines, for instance, has transformed unused land into more than 300 gardens and 10 farms, in the process training more than 4,000 urban farmers. Detroit is speckled with thousands of gardens and farms. In the Big Apple, the nonprofit Project Petals is turning vacant lots in under-resourced neighborhoods into oases. “You have some places in New York City where there’s not a green space for 5 miles,” said Alicia White, executive director and founder of the group. “And we know that green spaces help to reduce stress. We know they help to combat loneliness, and we know at this point that they help to improve our respiratory and heart health.” A Project Petals project in Queens, NY. Project Petals That makes these community spaces an especially potent climate solution, because it’s getting ever harder for people to stay healthy in cities due to the urban heat island effect, in which the built environment absorbs the sun’s energy and releases it throughout the night. Baking day after day during prolonged heat waves, the human body can’t get relief, an especially dangerous scenario for the elderly. But verdant patches reduce temperatures by releasing water vapor — essentially sweating into the neighborhood — and provide shade. At the same time, as climate change makes rainfall more extreme, urban gardens help soak up deluges, reducing the risk of flooding.  Oddly enough, while the oven-like effect is perilous for people, it can benefit city farms. On rooftops, scientists are finding that some crops, like leafy greens, thrive under the shade of solar panels, but others — especially warm-season crops like zucchini and watermelon — grow beautifully in harsh full-sun conditions. “Most of our high-value crops benefit from the urban heat island effect, because it extends their growing season. So growing food in the city is actually quite logical,” said horticulturist Jennifer Bousselot, who studies rooftop agrivoltaics at Colorado State University. “This summer we had cucumbers that were the size of baseball bats, that were perfectly suited to the green roof.” Plants grow on a roof at Colorado State University. Kevin Samuelson, CSU Spur That’s not all that’s thriving up there. Bousselot and her team are also growing a trio of Indigenous crops: corn, beans, and squash. The beans climb the corn stalks — and microbes in their roots fix nitrogen, enriching the soil — while the squash leaves shade the soil and reduce evaporation, saving water. In addition, they’ve found that saffron — an extremely expensive and difficult-to-harvest spice — tolerates the shade of rooftop solar panels. Water leaving the soil also cools the panels, increasing their efficiency. “We’re essentially creating a micro-climate, very much like a greenhouse, which is one of the most optimal conditions for most of our food crops to grow in,” Bousselot said. “But it’s not a system that needs heating or cooling or ventilation, like a greenhouse does.”  Growers might even use the extreme conditions of a rooftop for another advantage. Plants that aren’t shaded by solar panels produce “secondary metabolites” in response to the heat, wind, and constant sunlight that can stress them. These are often antioxidants, which a grower might be able to tease out of a medicinal plant like chamomile — at least in theory. “We are sort of exploring the breadth of what’s possible up there,” Bousselot said, “and using those unique environments to come up with crops that are hopefully even more valuable to the producer.” Kevin Samuelson, CSU Spur Down on the ground in New York City, Project Petals has seen a similar bonanza. Whereas agricultural regions cultivate vast fields and orchards of monocrops, like grains or fruit trees, an urban farm can pack a bunch of different foods into a tight space. “If you could grow it in rural areas, you could grow it in the city as well,” White said. “We’ve grown squash, snap peas, lemongrass. In our gardens, I’ve seen just about everything.” That sort of diversification means a cornucopia of nutritious foods flows into the community. (Lots of different species also provide different kinds of flowers for pollinators — and the more pollinators, the better the crops and native plants in the area can reproduce, creating a virtuous cycle.) That’s invaluable because in the United States, access to proper nutrition is extremely unequal: In Mississippi, for example, 30 percent of people live in low-income areas with low access to good food, compared to 4 percent in New York. This leads to “silent hunger,” in which people have access to enough calories — often from ultraprocessed foods purchased at corner stores — but not enough nutrients. Underserved neighborhoods need better access to supermarkets, of course, but rooftop and community gardens can provide fresh food and help educate people about improving their diets. ”It’s not only about growing our own veggies in the city, but actually too it’s a hook to change habits,” said Nikolas Galli, a postdoctoral researcher who studies urban agriculture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. Workers tend to crops in Queens, NY. Project Petals In a study published last month in the journal Earth’s Future, Galli modeled what this change could look like on a wide scale in São Paulo, Brazil. In a theoretical scenario in which the city turned its feasible free space — around 14 square miles — into gardens and farms, every couple of acres of food production could provide healthy sustenance to more than 600 people. Though the scenario isn’t particularly realistic, given the scale of change required, “it’s interesting to think about that, if we use more or less all the areas that we have, we could provide the missing fruits and vegetables for 13 to 21 percent of the population of the city,” Galli said. “Every square meter that you do can have a function, can be useful to increase the access to healthy food for someone.” Without urgent action here, silent hunger will only grow worse as urban populations explode around the world: By 2050, 70 percent of humans will live in cities. Urban farms could go a long way toward helping feed all those people, and could indeed benefit from rural farmers making the move to metropolises. “They’re able to pass it on to the community members like me from New York City, who maybe didn’t have the expertise,” White said, “and helping them to find their way in learning how to garden and learning how to grow their own food.” Whether it’s on top of a roof or tucked between apartment buildings, the urban garden is a simple yet uniquely powerful tool for solving a slew of environmental and human health problems. “They’re serving as spaces where people can grow, where they can learn, and they can help to fight climate change,” White said. “It’s so good to see that people are starting to come around to the fact that a garden space, and a green space, can actually make a bigger impact than just on that community overall.”  This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How urban farms can make cities more livable and help feed America on Nov 14, 2025.

Food
Agriculture
Energy

What Is ARFID? Doctors Explain Why the Eating Disorder’s Rates Are Rising

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, or ARFID, can cause malnutrition and weight loss in children and adults even when body image is not a factor

Stella was eight years old when she stopped eating solid foods. She went from being a “foodie” to strictly consuming liquids, says Briana, Stella’s mother. That diet soon became problematic for Stella, too: later, she removed chunks from her soup and struggled to drink smoothies that contained small seeds. She grew so afraid of swallowing that she’d spit out her saliva. “She said she had a fear of choking,” Briana says. (The last names of Stella and Briana have been withheld for privacy.)In less than a month, Stella became so tired and malnourished that her parents took her to the hospital. Doctors put her on a feeding tube, and they were concerned that the rapid weight loss for her age might cause heart issues. Within 24 hours of being hospitalized, a psychologist diagnosed Stella with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, or ARFID, a serious eating disorder that’s become steadily more prevalent globally in recent years. Health care providers and psychologists are now trying to untangle ARFID’s causes, signs and disconcerting rise.Clinicians emphasize that ARFID is much more than a dislike of certain foods. It’s developmentally normal for many kids to go through a picky eating phase between ages two and six. But ARFID presents as a food avoidance so persistent and pervasive that it can cause adults to drop below the minimum health body mass index, or BMI (a hotly debated measurement that links a person’s weight to their height), or to lose so much weight that they experience symptoms of malnutrition, such as vitamin deficiencies, irregular menstrual cycles, low testosterone, hair loss, muscle loss and a constant feeling of being cold. In kids, drastic weight loss from ARFID can cause children to fall off standard U.S. growth charts for healthy development. Developmental issues linked to the loss in weight and calories often spur doctors to recommend supplemental nutritional intake.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.“We’re not just trying to treat kids who don’t like broccoli. It’s the kid who is malnourished as a result of their food choices,” says James Lock, a psychiatry professor and director of the Child and Adolescent Eating Disorder Program at the Stanford University School of Medicine.An Increasingly Recognized DisorderARFID was formally recognized as a feeding and eating disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 2013. That enabled clinicians to put a name to a condition that had been around but had gone undetected for some time.“Probably there were people who had this syndrome, but they didn’t really talk about it because there’s a stigma around it,” says Jennifer Thomas, co-director of the Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, who has treated people with ARFID.Wider recognition of the condition is partly driving the recent increase in cases. Real-world data on ARFID cases are lacking, but some studies have reported a global prevalence ranging from 0.35 to 3 percent across all age groups. Certain countries and regions report much higher numbers: a recent study in the Netherlands, for example, found that among 2,862 children aged 10, 6.4 percent had ARFID. The eating disorder clinic that provided specialized care to Stella after she was hospitalized says it treated more than 1,000 people in the U.S. with ARFID in 2024—a 144 percent jump from 2023.“I think that’s one of the things that has made ARFID a challenging eating disorder [to diagnose]—because it is a lot of different things.” —Jessie Menzel, clinical psychologistAnd the National Alliance for Eating Disorders has found that ARFID now accounts for up to 15 percent of all new eating disorder cases. People can experience ARFID at any age, although recently diagnosed cases have mostly been in children and teens. The average age of diagnosis is 11 years old, and 20 to 30 percent of cases are in boys—a higher percentage than other eating disorders, according to the alliance.Signs and SymptomsUnlike other eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia, ARFID doesn’t appear to be associated with body image. The problem—and seeming cause—is the food itself and the emotional and physiological response toward it.People with ARFID generally fall into one or several of three categories. According to one study of adults with ARFID, 80 percent of respondents said they were uninterested in eating, 55 percent said they stay away from many foods because of sensory issues, and 31 percent said they avoid food because they are afraid of adverse consequences such as choking or vomiting. About two thirds of the participants were in more than one of these categories.“I think that’s one of the things that has made ARFID a challenging eating disorder [to diagnose]—because it is a lot of different things,” says Jessie Menzel, a clinical psychologist who treats the condition and other eating disorders.There are some common signs that signal ARFID, however. In addition to significant weight loss and signs of malnutrition, ARFID’s physical symptoms include gastrointestinal issues, low body temperature and the growth of a type of soft, fine body hair called lanugo that is typically not present after infancy. Behavioral changes include a lack of appetite, difficulty paying attention, food texture avoidance, extreme selective eating and a fear of vomiting or choking.Although ARFID is classified as an eating disorder, it has a lot of overlap with mental health conditions. A 2022 metastudy found that among people diagnosed with ARFID, up to 72 percent had an anxiety disorder. Studies also suggest the uptick in ARFID cases may be tied to the overall increase in mental health conditions diagnosed in kids. ARFID is particularly pronounced in those who have an anxiety disorder, Thomas says. Her team’s studies have found that about 30 to 40 percent of individuals with ARFID have a co-occurring anxiety disorder in their lifetime. “There are key similarities between ARFID and anxiety disorders,” although they are clinically distinct conditions, Thomas says. “Patients [with ARFID] themselves often describe feeling intense anxiety around food.”Because ARFID and anxiety can be so closely intertwined, it can be difficult to identify one from the other. “Often families will tell us it’s hard to get an [ARFID] diagnosis,” says Doreen Marshall, chief executive officer of the National Eating Disorders Association.ARFID is typically flagged when a child veers from growth curves—charts recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics to assess a child’s weight and height for their age. “If your lack of interest [in food] has led to your being a couple of standard deviations off your growth curve and you’re not going to hit puberty or grow, that’s a problem,” Lock says.Pinpointing signs of ARFID is trickier when a child has nutritional deficits but is of average or higher body weight. Such discrepancies make it “important that pediatricians listen to parents,” Marshall says. Health care providers should ask parents to describe what they see their child eating or avoiding, she says.ARFID in the BrainScientists don’t fully understand what causes ARFID, although they believe that it’s driven by a combination of genetic, environmental and neurobiological factors. Thomas is currently investigating the latter.In a study published in JAMA Network Open in February, Thomas and her team presented 110 participants with photographs of food, household objects and blurred images and observed their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results revealed that the three different ARFID categories correspond to activation of different brain regions. When shown food images, those who fell into the fear-related ARFID category (participants who had a fear of choking, for example) showed hyperactivation of the amygdala, the brain’s fear center. Participants with ARFID who were uninterested in food had lower activation of the hypothalamus, the brain’s appetite-regulation region. People diagnosed with the sensory form of ARFID showed hyperactivation of the brain’s sensory areas, such as the somatosensory cortex or the supplementary motor cortex.“What we found is that there might be different neural circuitry associated with each of the three ARFID presentations,” Thomas says. Results from fMRI have known limitations involving reliability and reproducibility, however. Thomas says that these initial findings need to be replicated to understand if the differences in brain activity are a cause or link to ARFID types; her team is currently collecting data from adults with ARFID for a second study. In a separate 2023 study, her team found that people who lack interest in food experienced a loss of pleasure in a lot of things—a condition known as anhedonia—and that depression partly contributed. “Folks who have that lack-of-interest [version of] ARFID don’t look forward to things in general, not just food,” she says.Understanding the neurological activity involved in ARFID may help clinicians develop more targeted treatments. For now, practitioners rely largely on a treatment known as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which has shown some success. A 2020 study co-authored by Thomas found that, post-CBT, 70 percent of those treated no longer met the criteria for ARFID. Another study published by Thomas and her colleagues in 2021 in the Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy found similar results.“With true ARFID, we don’t see a lot of spontaneous remission,” Thomas says. “Recovering from ARFID takes hard work, either at home, making a concerted effort to try new foods, or with a supportive treatment provider.”Most treatments for younger kids rely on parents to manage their child’s eating habits. After a month at the hospital, doctors sent Stella home, and her parents were advised not to cater to Stella’s limited palate. At home, the whole family, including Stella, ate the same meals. When they ate at restaurants, Stella didn’t have to eat a big meal, but she did have to take a few bites of something solid. Within a few months, Stella’s regular eating habits returned, and her ARFID disappeared.Treatments based on controlling eating habits can only go so far, however. They are less effective for people with the types of ARFID that are associated with higher sensitivity to or a lack of interest in food. “I think that’s where it’s so important to understand what’s happening physiologically or neurobiologically,” Menzel says. “That’s going to guide us toward more effective treatments.”If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, you can contact the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders helpline by calling (888) 375-7767. For crisis situations, you can text “NEDA” to 741741 to connect to a trained volunteer at Crisis Text Line.

Food
Crisis
Science

Watchdog rules Red Tractor exaggerated its environmental standards

The Advertising Standards Authority agrees with River Action that the food safety body’s 2023 advert misled the publicThe UK’s advertising watchdog has upheld a complaint that Britain’s biggest farm assurance scheme misled the public in a TV ad about its environmental standards.The Red Tractor scheme, used by leading supermarkets including Tesco, Asda and Morrisons to assure customers their food meets high standards for welfare, environment, traceability and safety, is the biggest and perhaps best known assurance system in Britain. Continue reading...

The UK’s advertising watchdog has upheld a complaint that Britain’s biggest farm assurance scheme misled the public in a TV ad about its environmental standards.The Red Tractor scheme, used by leading supermarkets including Tesco, Asda and Morrisons to assure customers their food meets high standards for welfare, environment, traceability and safety, is the biggest and perhaps best known assurance system in Britain.About 45,000 of the UK’s farms are members of the scheme, and the advert promised that food carrying the logo had been “farmed with care”.But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint from the clean water campaign group River Action that the scheme’s environmental standards were exaggerated in the advert, last aired in 2023.In its judgment, the ASA said the ad must not be shown again in its current form. It said in future Red Tractor should make clear exactly what standards it is referring to when it uses the phrases “farmed with care” and “all our standards are met”.River Action said it made the complaint because it was concerned environmental standards relating to pollution were not being met on Red Tractor farms, including the claim “When the Red Tractor’s there, your food’s farmed with care … from field to store all our standards are met.”The ASA considered evidence from an Environment Agency report into Red Tractor farms, which found that 62% of the most critical pollution incidents occurred on Red Tractor farms between 2014 and 2019.Charles Watson, chair and founder of River Action, said large food retailers such as Tesco and Asda should lay out credible plans as to how they would move away from what he termed a “busted flush” of a certification scheme and instead support farmers whose working practices were genuinely sustainable.“Red Tractor farms are polluting the UK’s rivers, and consumers trying to make environmentally responsible choices have been misled,” said Watson.“This ASA ruling confirms what we’ve long argued: Red Tractor’s claims aren’t just misleading – they provide cover for farms breaking the law.”Red Tractor said its standards did not cover all environmental legislation. Therefore, data on compliance with environmental regulation should not be confused with farms’ compliance with Red Tractor’s requirements.Jim Moseley, CEO of Red Tractor, said: “We believe the ASA’s final decision is fundamentally flawed and misinterprets the content of our advert.“If the advert was clearly misleading, it wouldn’t have taken so long to reach this conclusion. Accordingly, the ASA’s actions are minimal. They’ve confirmed that we can continue to use ‘farmed with care’ but simply need to provide more information on the specific standards being referred to.“The advert … made no environmental claim, and we completely disagree with the assumption that it would have been misinterpreted by consumers.”

Food
Pollution
Water

Can you really be addicted to food? Researchers uncover convincing similarities to drug addiction

Hundreds of studies have confirmed that certain foods affect the brain similarly to other addictive substances

People often joke that their favorite snack is “like crack” or call themselves “chocoholics” in jest. But can someone really be addicted to food in the same way they could be hooked on substances such as alcohol or nicotine? As an addiction psychiatrist and researcher with experience in treating eating disorders and obesity, I have been following the research in this field for the past few decades. I have written a textbook on food addiction, obesity and overeating disorders, and, more recently, a self-help book for people who have intense cravings and obsessions for some foods. While there is still some debate among psychologists and scientists, a consensus is emerging that food addiction is a real phenomenon. Hundreds of studies have confirmed that certain foods – often those that are high in sugar and ultraprocessed – affect the brains and behavior of certain people similarly to other addictive substances such as nicotine. Still, many questions remain about which foods are addictive, which people are most susceptible to this addiction and why. There are also questions as to how this condition compares to other substance addictions and whether the same treatments could work for patients struggling with any kind of addiction. How does addiction work? The neurobiological mechanisms of addiction have been mapped out through decades of laboratory-based research using neuroimaging and cognitive neuroscience approaches. Studies show that preexisting genetic and environmental factors set the stage for developing an addiction. Regularly consuming an addictive substance then causes a rewiring of several important brain systems, leading the person to crave more and more of it. This rewiring takes place in three key brain networks that correspond to key functional domains, often referred to as the reward system, the stress response system and the system in charge of executive control. First, using an addictive substance causes the release of a chemical messenger called dopamine in the reward network, which makes the user feel good. Dopamine release also facilitates a neurobiological process called conditioning, which is basically a neural learning process that gives rise to habit formation. As a result of the conditioning process, sensory cues associated with the substance start to have increasing influence over decision-making and behavior, often leading to a craving. For instance, because of conditioning, the sight of a needle can drive a person to set aside their commitment to quit using an injectable drug and return to it. Second, continued use of an addictive substance over time affects the brain’s emotional or stress response network. The user’s body and mind build up a tolerance, meaning they need increasing amounts of the substance to feel its effect. The neurochemicals involved in this process are different than those mediating habit formation and include a chemical messenger called noradrenaline and internally produced opioids such as endorphins. If they quit using the substance, they experience symptoms of withdrawal, which can range from irritability and nausea to paranoia and seizures. At that point, negative reinforcement kicks in. This is the process by which a person keeps going back to a substance because they’ve learned that using the substance doesn’t just feel good, but it also relieves negative emotions. During withdrawal from a substance, people feel profound emotional discomfort, including sadness and irritability. Negative reinforcement is why someone who is trying to quit smoking, for instance, will be at highest risk of relapse in the week just after stopping and during times of stress, because in the past they’d normally turn to cigarettes for relief. Third, overuse of most addictive substances progressively damages the brain’s executive control network, the prefrontal cortex, and other key parts of the brain involved in impulse control and self-regulation. Over time, the damage to these areas makes it more and more difficult for the user to control their behavior around these substances. This is why it is so hard for long-term users of many addictive substances to quit. Scientists have learned more about what’s happening in a person’s brain when they become addicted to a substance. What evidence is there that food is addictive? Many studies over the past 25 years have shown that high-sugar and other highly pleasurable foods – often foods that are ultraprocessed – act on these brain networks in ways that are similar to other addictive substances. The resulting changes in the brain fuel further craving for and overuse of the substance – in this case, highly rewarding food. Clinical studies have demonstrated that people with an addictive relationship to food demonstrate the hallmark signs of a substance use disorder. Studies also indicate that for some people, cravings for highly palatable foods go well beyond just a normal hankering for a snack and are, in fact, signs of addictive behavior. One study found that cues associated with highly pleasurable foods activate the reward centers in the brain, and the degree of activation predicts weight gain. In other words, the more power the food cue has to capture a person’s attention, the more likely they are to succumb to cravings for it. Multiple studies have also found that suddenly ending a diet that’s high in sugar can cause withdrawal, similar to when people quit opioids or nicotine. Excessive exposure to high-sugar foods has also been found to reduce cognitive function and cause damage to the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, the parts of the brain that mediate executive control and memory. In another study, when obese people were exposed to food and told to resist their craving for it by ignoring it or thinking about something else, their prefrontal cortexes were more active compared with nonobese individuals. This indicates that it was more difficult for the obese group to fight their cravings. Researchers are still working out the best methods to help patients with food addictions develop a healthy relationship with food. Viktar Sarkisian/iStock via Getty Images Plus Finding safe treatments for patients struggling with food Addiction recovery is often centered on the idea that the fastest way to get well is to abstain from the problem substance. But unlike nicotine or narcotics, food is something that all people need to survive, so quitting cold turkey isn’t an option. In addition, eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder often occur alongside addictive eating. Most psychologists and psychiatrists believe these illnesses have their root cause in excessive dietary restriction. For this reason, many eating disorder treatment professionals balk at the idea of labeling some foods as addictive. They are concerned that encouraging abstinence from particular foods could trigger binge eating and extreme dieting to compensate. A way forward But others argue that, with care, integrating food addiction approaches into eating disorders treatment is feasible and could be lifesaving for some. The emerging consensus around this link is moving researchers and those who treat eating disorders to consider food addiction in their treatment models. One such approach might look like the one described to me by addiction psychiatrist and eating disorders specialist Dr. Kim Dennis. In line with traditional eating disorder treatment, nutritionists at her residential clinic strongly discourage their patients from restricting calories. At the same time, in line with traditional addiction treatment, they help their patients to consider significantly reducing or completely abstaining from particular foods to which they have developed an addictive relationship. Additional clinical studies are already being carried out. But going forward, more studies are needed to help clinicians find the most effective treatments for people with an addictive relationship with food. Efforts are underway by groups of psychologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists and mental health providers to get “ultraprocessed food use disorder,” also known as food addiction, into future editions of diagnostic manuals such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases. Beyond acknowledging what those treating food addiction are already seeing in the field, this would help researchers get funding for additional studies of treating food addiction. With more information about what treatments will work best for whom, those who have these problems will no longer have to suffer in silence, and providers will be better equipped to help them.   Claire Wilcox, Adjunct Faculty in Psychiatry, University of New Mexico This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The post Can you really be addicted to food? Researchers uncover convincing similarities to drug addiction appeared first on Salon.com.

Food
Chemicals
Science

Newsom signs first-in-nation law to ban ultraprocessed food in school lunches 

California health officials will now decide which ingredients, additives, dyes, and other forms of processing don’t belong in school meals and K-12 cafeterias.

In summary California health officials will now decide which ingredients, additives, dyes, and other forms of processing don’t belong in school meals and K-12 cafeterias. California is the first state in the country to ban ultraprocessed foods from school meals, aiming to transform how children eat on campus by 2035.  In the cafeteria of Belvedere Middle School in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a measure that requires K-12 schools to phase out foods with potentially harmful ultraprocessed ingredients over the next 10 years. The requirements go above and beyond existing state and federal school nutrition standards for things like fat and calorie content in school meals. California public schools serve nearly 1 billion meals to kids each year. “Our first priority is to protect kids in California schools, but we also came to realize that there is huge market power here,” said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, an Encino Democrat. “This bill could have impacts far beyond the classroom and far beyond the borders of our state.” The legislation builds on recent laws passed in California to eliminate synthetic food dyes from school meals and certain additives from all food sold in the state when they are associated with cancer, reproductive harm and behavioral problems in children. Dozens of other states have since replicated those laws.  The bipartisan measure also comes at a time when U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement has shone a spotlight on issues including chronic disease, childhood obesity and poor diet.  The term “ultra-processed food” appears more than three dozen times in the MAHA report on children’s health released in May. A subsequent MAHA strategy report tasks the federal government with defining ultraprocessed food. California’s new law beats them to the punch, outlining the first statutory definition of what makes a food ultraprocessed. It identifies ingredients that characterize ultraprocessed foods, including artificial flavors and colors, thickeners and emulsifiers, non-nutritive sweeteners, and high levels of saturated fat, sodium or sugar. Often fast food, candy and premade meals include these ingredients. Researchers say ultraprocessed foods tend to be high in calories and low in nutritional value. Studies have linked consumption of ultraprocessed foods with obesity. Today, one in five children is obese.  Ultraprocessed foods are also linked to increased cancer risk, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Studies have found sweetened beverages and processed meats to be particularly harmful, said Tasha Stoiber, a senior scientist at the Environmental Work Group, which sponsored the legislation. Kids are particularly susceptible to the effects of ultraprocessed foods, she said. “Ultraprocessed foods are also marketed heavily to kids with bright colors, artificial flavors, hyperpalatability,” Stoiber said. “The hallmarks of ultraprocessed foods are a way to sell and market more product.” Gabriel said lawmakers and parents have become “much more aware of how what we feed our kids impacts their physical health, emotional health and overall well-being.” That has helped generate strong bipartisan support for the law, which all but one Republican in the state Legislature supported.  A coalition of business interests representing farmers, grocers, and food and beverage manufacturers opposed it. They argued the definition of ultraprocessed food was still too broad and ran the risk of stigmatizing harmless processed foods like canned fruits and vegetables that include preservatives. Vegetarian meat substitutes also generally contain things like processed soy protein and binders that may run afoul of the definition. Gabriel contends that the law bans not foods but rather harmful ingredients. The California Department of Public Health now must identify ultraprocessed ingredients that may be associated with poor health outcomes. Schools will no longer allow those ingredients in meals, and vendors could replace them with healthier options, Gabriel said. Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

Food
Health
Government

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