Macro partitioning
Prioritizing whole or natural foods over highly or ultraprocessed foods is highly recommended for weight management and metabolic health.
Choose whole or natural foods over highly or ultraprocessed options. This recommendation is based on evidence that ultraprocessed foods lead to significantly higher calorie consumption (approx. 500 kcal/day more) compared to unprocessed foods, making weight management much harder.
It is highly recommended to choose “whole” or “natural” foods over highly or ultraprocessed foods, which have become a dominant component of our convenient but rather unhealthy diet (5,6).
Why this rating
Supported by cited studies (5,6) and the Hall et al. study showing higher intake from ultraprocessed foods.
Source
What Should I Eat and Why? The Environmental, Genetic, and Behavioral Determinants of Food Choice: Summary from a Pennington Scientific Symposium
Emily Qualls‐Creekmore et al. · Obesity · 2020
DOI 10.1002/oby.22806
More from this paper
- Reducing total energy (calorie) intake is the primary and necessary strategy for weight management, regardless of the specific macronutrient source.Good
- Dietary composition should favor complex carbohydrates over simple sugars and be enriched in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids rather than saturated fats.Good
- Obesity is associated with decreased prefrontal cortex activity and decreases in goal-directed decision-making, which influences food intake.Good
Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →