Same sugar, fat and salt. Why 508 more calories?
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Do ultra-processed foods make people eat more?
In one NIH study, 20 adults lived on a research ward and ate two menus for 14 days each, in random order: one mostly ultra-processed, one unprocessed, matched as served for calories, sugar, fat, salt and fibre. They could eat as much or as little as they wanted, and staff weighed every leftover.
On the ultra-processed menu they ate 508 more calories a day and gained 0.9 kg. On the unprocessed menu they lost 0.9 kg.
Sources
Hall KD, Ayuketah A, Brychta R, et al. Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain: An Inpatient Randomized Controlled Trial of Ad Libitum Food Intake. Cell Metab 2019;30(1):67-77.e3. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2019.05.008
What the study says
- “We investigated whether ultra-processed foods affect energy intake in 20 weight-stable adults, aged (mean±SE) 31.2±1.6 y and BMI=27±1.5 kg/m 2.”
- “Hall et al. investigated 20 inpatient adults who were exposed to ultra-processed versus unprocessed diets for 14 days each, in random order.”
- “Energy intake was greater during the ultra-processed diet (508±106 kcal/d; p=0.0001), with increased consumption of carbohydrate (280±54 kcal/d; p<0.0001) and fat (230±53 kcal/d; p=0.0004) but not protein (−2±12 kcal/d; p=0.85).”
- “Weight changes were highly correlated with energy intake (r=0.8, p<0.0001) with participants gaining 0.9±0.3 kg (p=0.009) during the ultra-processed diet and losing 0.9±0.3 kg (p=0.007) during the unprocessed diet.”
- “Interestingly, Figure 2F illustrates that meal eating rate was significantly greater during the ultra-processed diet whether expressed as kcal/min (17±1 kcal/min; p<0.0001) or g/min (7.4±0.9 g/min; p<0.0001).”
Where it falls short
Small, short and on a ward rather than at home: one study, not a rule.
Unaddicted keeps every day you’ve earned, even after a slip.