- A Virginia Tech research team compared less processed meals with ultra-processed meals, matched to within about 1 percent for calories, carbohydrates, fat, protein, salt, and weight. The key point is that the body responded differently even though the nutritional makeup was the same. The research team announced this result.
- The source reports that after eating the ultra-processed meal, insulin secretion increased, energy expenditure rose, and less carbohydrate was burned as fuel. The researcher said all the metabolic markers measured were different.
- On separate days, participants viewed food pictures while brain activity was measured with functional MRI. The response in the nucleus accumbens, a brain area involved in reward and motivation, differed by meal type, and this difference was linked to the difference in how carbohydrates were burned. Participants did not assign higher value to the foods.
- The study subjects were healthy adults aged 18 to 45, 57 people in total, of whom 32 people completed both tests. The study covered only one meal combination and a short time, and did not separately measure the physical and chemical structure of additives and foods.
The article stops at the finding that meals matched for calories and nutrients still produced different insulin responses. However, the source says the protein source differed between the two meals, so this result alone makes it hard to separate whether processing or ingredient differences caused the gap. The study included 57 healthy adults aged 18 to 45, of whom 32 were part of the group, so the conditions are narrow for applying it directly to everyday diets. When you shop, do you usually check the ingredient list alongside calories?