Research
Mixed
Diets high in ultra-processed foods cause excess ad libitum energy intake and weight gain compared to minimally processed diets, even when macronutrients and presented calories are matched.
Prioritize whole, minimally processed foods. Even if you match the calories and macros, ultra-processed foods make you eat more because of their physical structure and hyper-palatability. Focus on food quality and processing level, not just nutrient numbers.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
We recently conducted a controlled randomized crossover trial to investigate this issue and found that a diet high in ultra-processed foods caused an increase in ad libitum energy intake of approximately 500 kcal d−1 and weight gain in adults as compared to an unprocessed diet matched for overall presented calories, carbohydrate, sugar, fat, sodium, energy density, glycemic load and fibre that resulted in spontaneous weight loss [39].
Why this rating
Based on a controlled randomized crossover trial with inpatient feeding.
Source
From dearth to excess: the rise of obesity in an ultra-processed food system
Kevin D. Hall · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · 2023
DOI 10.1098/rstb.2022.0214
narrative_reviewCited 42×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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