{"id":178221,"date":"2025-10-04T01:14:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T01:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/178221\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T01:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T01:14:12","slug":"i-study-the-effects-of-ultra-processed-foods-heres-why-i-still-eat-the-bad-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/178221\/","title":{"rendered":"I study the effects of ultra-processed foods… here’s why I still eat ‘the bad ones’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A food scientist who has long vocalized the link between ultra-processed foods and chronic health conditions has revealed that he still eats them, even ‘the bad ones’.<\/p>\n

Dr Kevin Hall served as a nutrition and metabolism scientist at the National Institutes of Health<\/a>\u00a0for 21 years before quitting this spring amid complaints that his work was being censored by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview, he opened up about his daily diet and admitted that he indulges in UPFs as they taste good and can save time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said: ‘Just because something is ultra-processed doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s bad for you.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I use, for example, a marinara sauce that\u2019s low in sugar and sodium, but when I\u2019m making a nice pasta dish, it cuts down the preparation time. I\u2019m not going to make a marinara sauce from scratch.’<\/p>\n

A 2019 analysis by Hall and his colleagues found that ultra-processed foods led participants to eat about 500 calories a day more than when they ate a matched diet of unprocessed foods, suggesting they are addictive.<\/p>\n

Despite the findings, Hall says he hasn’t been put off UPFs and he ‘treats them as recreational substances’.<\/p>\n

Opening up about his typical daily diet, he made another surprising revelation: that he doesn’t eat breakfast.<\/p>\n

Some nutritionists say skipping breakfast has consequences, as it may lead to low energy, poor concentration, overeating later in the day, or blood sugar imbalances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Dr <\/p>\n

Dr Kevin Hall served as a nutrition and metabolism scientist at the National Institutes of Health for 21 years before quitting this spring amid complaints that his work was being censored by the Trump government<\/p>\n

Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n

But Hall simply says he’s ‘not a breakfast eater’ and he prefers to start his day with a coffee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For a morning snack, around 11:30am, his go-tos are fruit, nuts or hard boiled eggs and then for lunch, at 1pm, he generally has leftovers from the night before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For dinner, Hall says that marinara sauce (which is a tomato sauce usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and onions) ‘plays a pretty prominent role’ in his household.<\/p>\n

His favorite recipe is mixing the sauce with\u00a0frozen scallops and whole-wheat pasta, with some grilled vegetables.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added: ‘Those are common things in our household, at least for the adults.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

For his children, he says he and his wife pick out things that they known they will like as ‘they are very particular.’<\/p>\n

While they like\u00a0farmed Atlantic salmon, vegetables rice and beans, another of their favorite foods are chicken nuggets.<\/p>\n

Nutritionists generally advise against\u00a0UPFs, such as chicken nuggets, as studies have linked them to various negative health impacts, including increased risks of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and early death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These foods often contain unhealthy levels of fat, sugar, and salt, while lacking essential fiber, vitamins, and minerals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But for Hall, chicken nuggets are a convenient dinner solution for his picky children.\u00a0‘It can be a little challenging, but we make it work for the whole family,’ he added.<\/p>\n

Ultra-processed foods have exploded in the US and elsewhere in recent decades, just as rates of obesity and other diet-related diseases also rise.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A 2019 analysis by Hall and his colleagues found that ultra-processed foods led participants to eat about 500 calories a day more than when they ate a matched diet of unprocessed foods, suggesting they are addictive<\/p>\n

The foods, which are often high in fat, sodium and sugar, are typically cheap, mass-produced and contain added colors and chemicals not found in a home kitchen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Think sugary cereals and potato chips, frozen pizzas, sodas and ice cream.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, even healthier options like pasta sauce and salad kits are often processed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Studies have linked ultra-processed foods to negative health effects, but whether it’s the actual processing of the foods (rather than the amount of calories they contain or the chemicals in them) remains uncertain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following his 2019 analysis exposing ultra-processed foods, Hall launched a more in-depth multimillion-dollar study this year which saw\u00a0three dozen participants paid $5,000 each to devote 28 days of their lives to science.<\/p>\n

During the study, the subjects were monitored as they ate different foods to understand how processing impacts digestion and metabolism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Results from the trial are set to be published later this year, but Hall previously said the preliminary results were intriguing.<\/p>\n

At a scientific conference in November 2024, he reported that the first 18 trial participants ate about 1,000 calories a day more of an ultra-processed diet that was particularly hyperpalatable and energy dense than those who ate minimally processed foods, leading to weight gain.<\/p>\n

When those qualities were modified, consumption went down, even if the foods were considered ultra-processed, Hall said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NIH spends about $2 billion a year, about five percent of its total budget, on nutrition research, according to Senate documents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A food scientist who has long vocalized the link between ultra-processed foods and chronic health conditions has revealed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[97,59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-178221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}