(The New Yorker) – A scientist tried to discredit the theory that ultra-processed foods are killing us. Instead, he overturned his own understanding of obesity.

When people were fed an ultra-processed diet that was calorie-dense and hyper-palatable, they ate around a thousand calories more per day than they did on the minimally processed diet. When the team served foods that were calorie-dense but less palatable, participants still ate about eight hundred calories more. But when the team served ultra-processed foods that were neither calorie-dense nor hyper-palatable—for example, liquid eggs, flavored yogurt and oatmeal, turkey bacon, and burrito bowls with beans—people ate essentially as much as they did on the minimally processed diet. They even lost weight. A murmur rippled through the crowd. Calorie density, probably the feature of food that had the biggest impact on our ancestors’ survival, now seemed to be among the most responsible for making us overeat. “Weight gain is not a necessary component of a highly ultra-processed diet,” Hall concluded. He had, in a sense, refuted his hypothesis again. (Read More)