Three U.S. National Institutes of Health grants are being used to fund a major study into the effects of ultra-processed foods on the human body. The study is being led by researchers based at the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
The researchers will explore ultra-processed foods’ impact on reward processing and energy intake in adolescents. The research will also consider vascular health and glucose homeostasis in mid-life adults.
One reason why the research is important is because of the wide spread consumption of processed meals. An average of 58 percent of calories consumed daily in the U.S. comes from ultra-processed foods. This includes commercially manufactured flavourings, colourings, emulsifiers, and ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and protein isolates.
Despite many diets being high in ultra-processed foods the level of understanding about the effects of such foods on the human body is limited. As examples, according to the BBC the most commonly eaten ultra-processed foods in the UK are:
- Industrialised bread (11 percent),
- Pre-packaged meals (7.7 percent),
- Breakfast cereals (4.4 percent),
- Sausages and other reconstituted meat products (3.8 percent).
With the review of the influence of ultra-processed foods on reward processing and energy intake in humans, the study will be run on a “normal” population, which is sedentary with low physical activity. This will consider whether changing something in a person’s diet and seeing the changes in the brain and the changes in behaviour.
Participants will be assessed using an fMRI machine and their brains will be studied as they are tasting ultra-processed foods, both before and after dietary interventions. To introduce a control, the researchers will feed the study participants a controlled diet for several weeks so that the researchers know exactly what the participants consume daily.
The results of the study will aim to show direct cause-and-effect relationships between ultra-processed food intake and indicators of Type 2 diabetes risk as well as actions that could be taken to reduce reliance on ultra-processed foods if needed.
The research will also consider the vascular consequence of ultra-processed foods in middle-aged adults. This is an important area, given that ultra-processed foods are connected to cardiovascular disease. Here age is an additional risk factor.
This stage of the project is focused on people aged 50 to 65 and uses a similar design as the ultra-processed food consumption, gut microbiota, and glucose homeostasis study. The major difference is the outcomes – one is looking at glucose homeostasis and the other at vascular function.
