A government study led by National Institutes of Health nutrition researcher Kevin Hall aims to understand the health effects of ultraprocessed foods, which account for more than 70% of the US food supply. The research involves tracking participants’ food intake and weight over a prolonged period.
Twenty-year-old Florida college student Sam Srisatta spent a month living in a government hospital as part of the study, documenting every morsel of food he ate and allowing scientists to monitor his movements and track his nutritional data. Srisatta’s goal was to figure out what mechanisms make ultraprocessed foods so satisfying.
The study relies on 24/7 measurements of patients, rather than self-reported data, to investigate whether ultraprocessed foods cause people to eat more calories and gain weight, potentially leading to obesity and other health problems.
Early results suggest that participants who ate an ultraprocessed diet experienced weight gain despite eating a diet with more than 80% of calories from such food. The study’s findings have sparked debate among scientists, with some arguing that the research was fundamentally flawed due to its short duration.
Despite concerns about the length of the studies, Hall emphasized the need for better-designed research to address diet-related diseases. The NIH spends billions of dollars on nutrition research each year, but funding constraints and capacity issues may limit the scope of future studies.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/inside-government-study-trying-understand-131255854.html