- Yeah, yeah, yeah, processed foods are bad for us.
But do you know why?
A new study seems to answer that question
and that's what we're talking about on this week's
Wednesday Checkup.
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Researchers and doctors like myself really do advocate
to limit the amount of processed foods
that we eat in our diets.
The reason we do this
is because the research has shown
that those who eat a diet rich in processed foods
generally have more diseases,
more likely to be obese,
and live shorter lives.
What we haven't had up until this point
is a study proving a causal relationship.
A randomized controlled study.
In fact, the entire field of nutrition is a mess
because we lack these types of studies.
But now, the NIH has conducted
a randomized, controlled study
and has proved with a causal relationship
that eating a diet rich in highly processed foods
causes weight gain.
And it's for a reason you may not even suspect.
Let's jump right in and talk about this study.
It was a rather small one.
But it was done with very, very high quality.
There were ten male participants and ten female.
They were randomized to participate
in either two weeks of a high processed diet
or a low processed diet,
and then they flipped the two groups.
This is really powerful.
Because not only do you have
a randomized, controlled sample,
but the actually live in the facility for the entire month.
This doesn't happen with nutritional research.
It's really, really important to note
that both the processed and unprocessed meals
were controlled for protein, carbs, fats,
calories, fiber content
and participants could eat
as little or as much as they wanted.
Let me give you an example
to make this a little bit more digestible.
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For breakfast, an ultra processed meal
would be a bagel with cream cheese and turkey bacon.
A minimally processed meal would be
oatmeal with bananas, walnuts, and skim milk.
If you're wondering what ingredients
make a food highly processed:
hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup,
flavorings, emulsifiers.
These things generally don't exist in nature.
That's why they're not labeled whole foods.
So what did this study actually find out?
Those who ate a high processed diet
actually gained a pound of weight per week.
And then when they were eating the unprocessed diet
they lost a pound per week.
That's a big difference.
The reason why those who were eating
a high processed food diet gained weight
is because they overate.
On average, 500 extra calories a day.
Does eating a diet high in ultra processed foods
cause weight gain?
The answer is yes.
What this study wasn't designed for was to find out why.
But I do have some theories for you.
One.
Ultra processed foods taste better
and are more palatable.
I mean, there's industries
where millions of dollars are spent
to hack food to taste better, feel better on your tongue.
It's crazy.
Two.
Ultra processed food can be more addicting.
Maybe the idea of the gut-brain connection
comes into play here.
The bacteria that live inside your gut
that love processed foods
start sending signals to your brain.
It's not that crazy of an idea
and there are initial theories on it.
Three.
With proteins being the most satiating macronutrient
and ultra processed foods generally having less of it
it causes you to overeat.
This is called the protein leverage hypothesis,
where if you don't get enough protein,
you're going to overeat carbs and fats to make up for it.
In fact, that's what happened in the study.
Those in the ultra high processed foods
overate fats and carbs but not really proteins.
What's crazy to me is how we in America overeat
these highly processed foods all the time.
And I began to wonder,
how did we get here?
And I came up with four pretty good reasons.
See if you agree with them.
One.
They store well.
I mean we've all seen those videos of the fast food burger
sitting on the counter for days, weeks, even months
and it doesn't go bad.
Two.
They're absolutely delicious.
Like I said earlier, there's people making millions
on how to make that hamburger, that candy
taste that much better.
Three.
They're generally cheaper
which is unfair to those of low socioeconomic status.
If you're poor, you're forced to eat low quality foods?
That's horrible.
Four.
They're widely available.
In areas where malnutrition used to be a problem
because of undereating,
now that we have these highly processed foods,
we still have malnutrition just because of obesity.
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Like I mentioned earlier,
I'm not a fan of nutritional research
but when it's this level of quality,
you best bet I'm gonna talk about it.
Hehe.
And if you wanna see my nutrition playlist
and learn everything you need to know about eating healthy,
click here
and stay happy and healthy.
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