According to a new study by the National Institute for Health, processed foods (as we’ve long suspected) cause you to eat more than less-processed foods with equal amounts of calories and nutrition.
The study enrolled 20 people whose weight had been stable. This is important because any changes during the study would correlate to the impact of the study on the person’s body. The study created two diets, a processed-food diet and a non-processed-food diet. Both diets were similar in the amount of calories, protein, sugar, fiber, etc.
The study used the NOVA grouping of foods to categorize the diets. There are 4 groups:
- Unprocessed or minimally processed foods: Basically anything you can eat without much additional effort (may require cooking, washing, cutting, etc), like fruits, vegetables, seafood, nuts, etc.
- Processed culinary ingredients: Anything that may be needed to make group #1 taste better, like salt, sugar, honey, oil, etc.
- Processed foods: A combination of groups #1 and #2 foods processed so that they can last longer, like canned (or bottled) fruits and vegetables, smoked meats, cured meats, cheese, freshly made bread, etc. These foods will typically contain +3 ingredients in the label.
- Ultra processed foods and drink products: Everything else 🙂 These are products that contain +5 ingredients (sometimes a long list) in the label with unnatural-sounding names (maltodextrin, hydrogenated, high fructose, etc).
After 14 days the people that ate the processed food diet, on average, ate 500 more calories than those following the less-processed-food diet. The result was an average weight gain, or loss, of about 2 pounds (0.9kg) for those following the processed and less-processed diets respectively.
We have long suspected processed foods make us feel less satisfied and as a result we eat more of it. More importantly, all calories, fat, sugars, etc, are not created equal. While a large banana and 2 Oreo cookies may have the similar caloric values (about 130 to 140), one will make you feel more satisfied than the other for longer.
Also who knew that 2 Oreo cookies packed 140 calories. That makes them not even worth it. 🙁
