Research
Energy balance
Short-term consumption of ultra-processed foods leads to increased energy intake and weight gain compared to unprocessed diets.
When eating ultra-processed foods, you are likely to eat more calories and gain weight compared to eating unprocessed foods, even if the nutrients are similar.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
One crossover trial allocated participants to an ultra-processed or unprocessed diet for two weeks each and found that the ultra-processed diet led to increased energy intake and weight gain, while the unprocessed diet resulted in lower energy intake and weight loss.
Why this rating
Supported by a specific crossover trial and consistent with observational data.
Source
Ultra-processed foods and cardiometabolic health: public health policies to reduce consumption cannot wait
Mathilde Touvier et al. · BMJ · 2023
DOI 10.1136/bmj-2023-075294
narrative_reviewCited 140×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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