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Sigma Nutrition Radio

#593: Can We Define Hyper-Palatable Foods? And Is Processing Actually the Problem? – Tera Fazzino, PhD

Sigma Nutrition Radio

Danny Lennon

Health & Fitness, Nutrition

4.8 • 633 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

While the term "hyperpalatable" has been used frequently for considerable time to refer to foods that are so appealing and tasty that they drive overeating, this term hasn't been well-defined nor has there been a universal standard for what it means.

One researcher who set out to create an objective definition for hyper-palatable foods (HPFs) is Dr. Tera Fazzino. Using specific defined thresholds of sugar, fat and salt combinations, Dr. Fazzino and colleagues have looked at the impact of consumption of these HPFs.

In this episode, we delve into defining HPFs and their nutrient profiles, whether they have addictive-like properties, how HPFs differ from (and overlap with) ultra-processed foods (UPFs), the mechanisms by which these foods drive overconsumption, and the broader public health implications.

Tera Fazzino, PhD, is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Kansas. Her research focuses on addiction, obesity, and eating-related behaviors.

Timestamps

  • [03:39] Interview begins
  • [05:05] Attempting to define hyper palatability
  • [10:03] Nutrient combinations in hyper palatable foods
  • [14:54] Prevalence of hyper palatable foods
  • [17:43] Debate on ultra processed foods
  • [30:02] Mechanisms behind hyper palatability
  • [35:06] Addiction theory and hyper-palatable foods
  • [43:38] Early exposure and long-term effects
  • [50:53] Key ideas recap

Related Resources

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to Sigma Nutrition Radio. This is episode 593 of the podcast. My name is Danny Lennon and you are very welcome to the show.

0:10.4

Today we're going to be talking about a topic and in particular a term that has been used quite frequently for a long period of time.

0:18.6

Many people use it often to refer to certain types of foods,

0:22.5

and that term being hyper palatable. However, what is maybe not really appreciated is that

0:27.9

this term hasn't really been well defined. There is no universal classification for it. There's

0:34.1

no consensus around what this term really means, how it should be applied, or in the way that

0:38.6

most people use it, if it actually really means anything. And so often what we are left with is a term that

0:44.4

ends up being quite subjective, quite vague, used maybe in an arbitrary fashion, or at least differently

0:50.3

by different people, to refer to something nominally related to an idea of foods

0:55.4

that are so appealing and rewarding and tasty that we are going to over consume them.

1:00.9

And while that is a general idea, as we said, to have an objective definition and classification

1:06.5

for this of how we would determine whether our food is hyper palatable or not, and therefore

1:10.7

being even able to start that process of investigating them has been an this of how we would determine whether our food is hyper palatable or not, and therefore being

1:10.9

even able to start that process of investigating them has been an issue. One of the researchers

1:16.5

that has tried to put some specific defined thresholds on these and have terminology that is

1:23.8

objective that we can go and measure whether a food fits this criteria or not is Dr. Tara Fazzino.

1:29.5

And so her and her colleagues using these defined thresholds for combinations of sugar, fat, and salt,

1:36.9

of which we will talk about that classification a bit more specifically in a moment, have tried

1:41.4

to use this to define hyper palatable foods.

1:45.0

And from there, starts doing some work to see what this tells us and what relationship this has with our consumption of those foods and therefore some of the health effects.

1:54.0

And so in this episode, we are going to look at this historic issue with defining this term, how it kind of gets used loosely. The work that her group

2:02.3

has done in coming up with this classification, some of the publications they have done based on that,

...

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