This Is How Ultra-processed Foods Make You Fat

People who include ultra-processed foods in their diet consume 500 more calories a day than those who choose natural foods. It is estimated that this excess can translate into a weight gain of up to 1kg every two weeks.

Therefore, everything indicates that the ultra-processed, which combine high proportions of salt, additives, fats and sugars, are responsible for much of the obesity epidemic.

The ultra-processed ones hook us with a mixture of sugar, fat and additives

Ultra-processed foods are not only convenient and cheap. They are also made in a way that hooks us, because we are genetically conditioned to fall asleep before the mixture of fat and salt or fat and sugar.

To carry out the research, which has been published in the journal Cell Metabolism, all kinds of ultra-processed products, such as breakfast cereals, white bread, sweetened yogurts , were made available to a group of participants, with an average age of 31 , French fries, processed meats, and foods that might seem healthy like blueberry muffins, orange juice, or canned corn.

Another more fortunate group had fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, eggs, fish and fresh meats at their disposal.

Both groups were able to freely consume the foods that were assigned to them. After four weeks, when looking at what they had consumed, it was seen that the members of the ultra-processed group had consumed an average of 500 more calories per day and had increased their weight by 2 kg.

Whet your appetite

In contrast, people in the unprocessed food group lost weight, lowered their total cholesterol levels, increased those of peptide YY (appetite suppressant hormone), and those of ghrelin, which whets their appetite (probably because their usual diet before starting the study he was less healthy).

Kevin Hall, lead author of the study and an obesity expert at the US National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said he was “shocked at the magnitude of the changes we saw.”

They are related to cancer and cardiovascular diseases

This is the first clinical study to compare the differences between a diet based on ultra-processed foods and a natural diet under controlled conditions and may have important implications.

Previous studies had indicated that the richest countries tend more and more to feed themselves with ultra-processed. In the United States, the average citizen gets half of their calories from these foods.

According to a study carried out by experts from the Sorbonne and Sao Paulo Universities, ultra-processed foods increase the risk of cancer: a 10% increase in the consumption of processed food is associated with a 12% increase in the risk of cancer, especially breast cancer. Other scientific works also link them with a higher probability of premature death from heart disease.