A study published in 2018 determined that almost 60% of the food Americans eat is ultra-processed. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are formulations of ingredients typically created by a series of industrial techniques. They are composed of cheap sources of sugar, nutrients, and additives, and they contain substances of little or no culinary use, such as hydrogenated oil, modified starch, and high fructose corn syrup. Most of them are less food and more lab experiment.

What makes ultra-processed foods unique is they contain a multitude of ingredients (chemicals) that could be detrimental to your health, including colorings, sweeteners, binders, and preservatives. In the United States, the FDA allows more than 10,000 of these “ingredients” in food.

Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to 32 Health Conditions

A study published last year in the British Medical Journal found a direct association between eating too many ultra-processed foods and 32 health conditions. The study was a big metanalysis that examined 14 review articles involving nearly 10 million people. Here are some of the key findings:

• They found “convincing evidence” that linked higher ultra-processed food intake with about a 50% increased risk of cardiovascular disease-related death, a 40% to 53% higher risk of anxiety and common mental disorders, and a 12% higher risk of Type 2 diabetes.
• Evidence also associated diets high in ultra-processed foods with a 21% higher risk of death from any cause; a 40% to 66% higher risk of heart disease-related death, obesity, Type 2 diabetes and sleep problems; and a 22% higher risk of depression.

We took a closer look at the results of this study and the impacts of ultra-processed foods on our health last year.

Ultra-Processed Foods = 500 Extra Calories A Day

Ultra-processed foods are engineered to be extremely appetizing and less satisfying—this causes people to eat a lot more of them. A landmark study published in 2019 found that consuming a diet high in ultra-processed foods caused participants to consume over 500 more calories per day than when they ate a diet of whole foods. These calories came entirely from extra carbohydrate and fat intake, causing the participants to gain 2 pounds in just 2 weeks.

The ways in which UPFs cause people to overeat isn’t perfectly understood, but some new research published last month could help us understand what’s happening.

5 Days of Eating Ultra-Processed Foods Changes Your Brain

An alarming study published last month revealed that just 5 days of eating ultra-processed foods significantly impairs white matter in the brain regions crucial for decision making and cognitive control.

The study included 29 men aged 19-27 who were assigned to one of two diets for 5 days: a high calorie (ultra-processed) diet or a normal diet.

The high-calorie diet was, by design, higher in calories than the normal diet. Specifically, the participants consumed 1,500 calories more per day, provided in the form of highly processed, high-sugar, high-fat foods like candy bars, brownies, chips, and other snack foods.

The high-calorie diet didn’t lead to weight gain, which isn’t surprising given the short-term nature of the study. Body composition, insulin sensitivity, and inflammatory biomarkers like CRP and IL-6 were also unchanged.

However, over the course of just 5 days, liver fat increased by 63% in the participants eating the ultra-processed diet.

Things really get interesting when we look at what happened to the participants’ brains.

After 5 days of a high-calorie diet, brain insulin activity increased significantly. After high-calorie foods were removed and the participants resumed a normal diet for 7 days, insulin activity was lower, specifically in the right hippocampus.

The high-calorie diet didn’t just alter brain insulin action—it profoundly rewired how the participants experienced reward, reducing their reward sensitivity. It made them need to eat more ultra-processed foods to continue to feel pleasure.

These changes persisted even after they resumed a normal diet. The high-calorie diet also impaired white matter integrity in brain regions responsible for reward and cognitive processing, which outlasted the timeframe of the high-calorie diet.

Why Is This Important?

The study shows that eating ultra-processed foods for just 5 days increased insulin activity in the brain without increasing insulin activity in the rest of the body and without any weight gain. This is a warning that signals obesity is coming. Consuming ultra-processed foods for just 5 days changes the way the brain works, wiring us to overeat.

The changes that occurred in the brain are similar to changes you would see in muscle cells and fat cells of an obese person. The participants in the study who had the largest brain response to insulin also had the greatest increases in liver fat and the greatest decreases in reward sensation from ultra-processed foods.

What’s shocking is 5 days of a high-calorie, ultra-processed diet made the brains of these normal healthy people similar to people with obesity. Even after cutting high calorie foods out of their diet, the changes lasted for at least a week. If that much change occurred in a week, what’s happening to the brains of people who eat ultra-processed foods all the time?

If you go through a short period of eating more processed foods than normal—like around the holidays—you might experience changes in food cravings that could last for a couple of weeks. This doesn’t mean you’ve ruined your metabolism, but it does mean you need to be more mindful of what you eat.

Eating a diet of minimally-processed foods is the best way to be sure your body gets the nutrients and the right metabolic signaling it needs to regulate appetite and keep your mind healthy.

Remember: if a food has more than 9 ingredients or ingredients you can’t pronounce or understand, you probably shouldn’t eat it. Oh, and don’t forget to strength train once a week with a certified personal trainer at Exercise Inc.

Stay Strong,

Bo Railey