Are ultraprocessed foods truly addictive?

When I sat down to write this story, I remembered the gummy worms in the snack drawer of my kitchen. So I got up and grabbed a handful. I should add that I had just finished lunch, and I don’t really like gummy worms.

And yet, I ate them.

That’s not an unusual moment in my life, and maybe in yours too: eating a treat that serves almost no nutritional purpose. My treat, for instance, had sugar but little else of substance on the ingredient list: gelatin, natural and…