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DriveNutrition fact

In a 2019 study at the US National Institutes of Health, 20 adults ate an ultra-processed and an unprocessed diet for two weeks each. The meals offered the same calories, sugar, fat, salt and fibre, yet on the ultra-processed diet people ate about 500 more calories a day and gained weight.

Cell Metabolism, 2019

Health

The story behind the card

'Ultra-processed' comes from the Nova system, first proposed in 2009 by researchers led by Carlos Monteiro at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. It describes industrial products made mostly from refined ingredients and additives rarely used in home cooking, such as flavourings, emulsifiers and modified starches: many packaged snacks, sweetened cereals, ready meals and soft drinks. In the trial, led by the NIH scientist Kevin Hall, the volunteers lived at the NIH Clinical Center in Maryland for four weeks, so everything they ate could be measured, and they could eat as much or as little as they liked. On the ultra-processed diet they ate about 508 extra calories a day and gained about 0.9 kg; on the unprocessed diet they lost about the same. Why these foods lead people to eat more is still being studied.

Türkçe oku
ABD Ulusal Sağlık Enstitüleri'nde (NIH) 2019'da yapılan bir çalışmada 20 yetişkin iki hafta ultra işlenmiş, iki hafta da işlenmemiş gıdalarla beslendi. Öğünlerdeki kalori, şeker, yağ, tuz ve lif aynıydı; buna rağmen ultra işlenmiş diyette günde yaklaşık 500 kalori fazla yediler ve kilo aldılar.
Cell Metabolism, 2019

“Ultra işlenmiş” kavramı, 2009'da Brezilya'daki São Paulo Üniversitesi'nden Carlos Monteiro'nun öncülüğündeki araştırmacıların önerdiği Nova sınıflandırmasından gelir. Bu terim, çoğunlukla rafine malzemelerden ve ev mutfağında pek kullanılmayan katkı maddelerinden (aroma vericiler, emülgatörler, modifiye nişastalar gibi) yapılan endüstriyel ürünleri anlatır. Paketli atıştırmalıkların, şekerli kahvaltılık gevreklerin, hazır yemeklerin ve gazlı içeceklerin çoğu bu gruba girer. NIH araştırmacısı Kevin Hall'un yürüttüğü çalışmada gönüllüler dört hafta boyunca Maryland'deki NIH Klinik Merkezi'nde kaldı; böylece yedikleri her şey ölçülebildi. İstedikleri kadar yiyebiliyorlardı. Ultra işlenmiş diyette günde ortalama 508 kalori fazla yediler ve yaklaşık 0,9 kilo aldılar; işlenmemiş diyette ise aşağı yukarı aynı miktarda kilo verdiler. Bu gıdaların neden daha çok yemeye yol açtığı hâlâ araştırılıyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Ultra-processed food
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