Researchers Examine Historical Links Between Tobacco Firms and Ultra-Processed Food Development

A special section of research papers published June 3 in the American Journal of Public Health examines how tobacco companies transferred cigarette production and marketing techniques to the food industry after acquiring major packaged-food businesses in the 1980s.

Laura Schmidt, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, reviewed internal tobacco-company records and concluded that the same chemical-additive methods used to enhance nicotine delivery were later applied to ultra-processed foods.

She documented Philip Morris’s use of flavor technologies originally developed for lower-nicotine cigarettes when the company created reduced-fat cheeses and processed meats for Lunchables.

Tera Fazzino, an associate professor at the University of Kansas, reported that between the 1980s and mid-2000s, when Philip Morris owned Kraft General Foods and RJ Reynolds owned Nabisco, the market became saturated with items classified as hyper-palatable because of elevated combinations of fat, sugar, sodium and carbohydrates.

Fazzino noted that tobacco firms had previously marketed “light” cigarettes to retain health-conscious customers and later used parallel “light and reduced” labeling on cheeses and other foods. ” One study in the section followed more than 5,000 older Americans for ten years and identified a possible association between higher ultra-processed-food intake and increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia.

An editorial cited prior research naming Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Danone among the world’s top five plastic polluters. A nationally representative survey of 2,000 adults included in the section found that a majority across party lines support government regulation of ultra-processed foods.

Lindsey Smith Taillie, a professor at the University of North Carolina and co-author, said the combination of scientific evidence, public opinion and political attention may produce policy changes comparable to those that followed tobacco-control efforts.

Several states have already enacted limits or bans on synthetic dyes in foods. Jennifer Pomeranz of New York University argued in an editorial that state attorneys general could pursue litigation modeled on the 1990s tobacco lawsuits. Tobacco companies Reynolds and Altria, which operates Philip Morris, did not respond to NPR’s request for comment.

Pomeranz observed that the current level of public concern over food additives has not been seen since the 1906 Food and Drug Act.