Comprehension:
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Attempts to lose weight often end in disappointment. This pattern is extremely common in modern life. Research shows that barely 20% of people manage to maintain lost weight after a year. This failure is not about shaming individuals; it reflects a serious public health risk comparable to smoking. Recent findings in a series of papers named Lacent underline two essential points. First, ultra-processed foods have steadily weakened people’s ability to make healthy choices. Second, only strong and coordinated policy measures can rebuild a food environment that supports better habits.
Consider something as simple as yogurt. What seems like a healthy snack is usually packed with modified starches, emulsifiers, sweeteners and colourings. With busy work schedules, few people have time to prepare fresh alternatives, especially those who carry and balance multiple responsibilities. This is where policy can matter. Front-of-package warnings, limits on marketing to children and fiscal measures that prevent large corporations from making profit on public health, society must acknowledge how harmful highly engineered food has become. People need to resist such products. Instead, they must replace them with real cooking.
Ultra-processed foods feel addictive because they are designed to override the body’s hunger signals. When people eat them compulsively, it is not simply weakness, it is the outcome of meticulous industrial engineering to hijack human biology. Even something labelled as a “strawberry” may contain dozens of artificial chemicals and no real fruit. While policymakers delay reforms, everyone turns to chips, sweets and cola for comfort during stress and loneliness.
Ultimately, despite the structural issues, personal discipline still plays a crucial role. Choosing healthier food is genuinely challenging- sometimes as demanding as other major acts of self-control in life. We can view the greater empathy. It is no less tough than buying a house or sending a child abroad.
In the passage, the phrase “engineered to hijack human biology” refers to:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Foods deliberately designed to override normal hunger and satiety signals.
The passage says that ultra-processed foods "feel addictive because they are designed to override the body’s hunger signals", and that eating them compulsively is "the outcome of meticulous industrial engineering to hijack human biology". To hijack is to seize control of something by force: the foods are built to take control of the body's natural signals of hunger and fullness.
Example: Clickbait headlines are written to hijack our attention.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Foods that provide essential nutrients quickly. — Incorrect. Contradicted: the passage treats these foods as harmful; a "strawberry" product "may contain dozens of artificial chemicals and no real fruit".
Option 3: Foods created to taste natural despite being artificial. — Incorrect. Wrong link: artificial flavour is mentioned, but "hijack human biology" is tied to overriding "the body’s hunger signals", not to taste.
Option 4: Foods that are processed using advanced mechanical machines. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: "engineering" here means the deliberate design of the food's effect on the body; the passage says nothing about machinery.