Over-processed foods add 500 calories to your diet every day, resulting in weight gain.



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NEW YORK (CNN) – A new study indicates that ultra-processed foods that are cheaper and easier to prepare can make you fat.

Persons restricted to a predominantly highly processed dietFoods ate more calories and gained more weight than when their diet was mostly low-processed foods, says the study published Thursday in the journal Cell Metabolism.

This small-scale study is the first randomized controlled trial – considered the gold standard in science – examining the effects of ultra-processed foods. They are defined as containing industrial ingredients, such as hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, flavoring agents and emulsifiers.

During a one – month study, 20 healthy adult volunteers stayed at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, where all their meals were provided to them. They were restricted to each diet for 14 days and were informed that they could eat as much or as little as they wished.

Both versions of meals had the same amounts of calories, sugars, fiber, fat and carbohydrates. For example, the unprocessed breakfast could be composed of oatmeal with bananas, nuts and skim milk, while the other consisted of a bagel with cream cheese and bacon with turkey .

Participants exercised about the same amount each day throughout the study.

On the ultra-processed diet, people eat faster by consuming about 500 more calories a day (by taking extra portions)that they were then only on the unprocessed diet; this increase in calories was due to higher amounts of carbohydrates and lipids but no protein. As a result, they gained weight – on average, about 0.9 kilograms or 2 pounds. During the unprocessed diet, they lost an equal amount of weight.

According to the study authors, the sex of the participants, the order in which they were assigned to their diet and their body mass index do not influence the different calories consumed by each participant.

Ultra-processed foods have caused people to eat too many calories and gain weight, they concluded.

Designed and heavily processedFood may be difficult to restrict for reasons other than taste, the researchers noted. For example, the weekly cost of a 2,000 calorie diet per day of processed meals was estimated at $ 106, compared with $ 151 for more natural meals.

It also takes longer to prepare less processed foods, they said.

Ultra-processed foods are mainly consumed as ready-to-eat meals, as well as snacks and desserts. People have been eating more in recent decades. In the United States, 61% of the total adult diet comes from ultra-processed foods; in Canada, it is 62%; and in the United Kingdom it is 63%, a recent and unrelated study.

Research also shows that foods from the industry can lead to obesity, high blood pressure and cancer.

"We live in a fast world and people are looking for practical solutions," said Nurgul Fitzgerald, associate professor at the Rutgers University's Department of Nutrition Sciences, about a previous study on foods processed.

Fitzgerald recommends checking the back of a pack of prepared dishes. "Look at the list of ingredients – do you understand all the ingredients that go into your food?" she asked. Only buy products that "contain the least ingredients and that you understand well".

The authors of the study suggest that consumer confusion is another aspect of this problem.

"The perpetual inter-factional diet wars that promote low carb, keto, paleo, high protein, low fat, vegetable, vegan diets and a seemingly infinite list of other diets have resulted in a great deal of confusion. part of the public and a mistrust of the science of nutrition, "they wrote. "Limiting the consumption of ultra-processed foods can be an effective strategy for prevention and treatment of obesity."

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