Twitchy 87% ultra-processed MRI claim

Twitchy’s May 16 post took a real MRI image from a published medical study and turned it into a broad claim about what ultra-processed food “hides inside your muscles.” The image, described in the post as looking like a “marbled ribeye steak,” traces back to an April 14 paper in *Radiology* and a same-day release from the Radiological Society of North America, or RSNA. The underlying research did not report a clinical trial, and it did not present the 87% figure as a stand-alone proof of causation in one woman. It reported a cross-sectional analysis of 615 adults at risk for knee osteoarthritis and included the MRI as a representative case. ### Where did the “87% ultra-processed food” claim come from? RSNA said on April 14 that one study participant was a 62-year-old woman who obtained 87% of her annual calories from ultra-processed food, and that her thigh MRI was shown as a representative image. CNN’s April 14 report, citing lead author Dr. Zehra Akkaya of the University of California, San Francisco, said that participant’s diet was mainly cold cereals, candy, soft drinks and other sugary bottled drinks. (twitchy.com) The *Radiology* paper itself was titled “Ultra-processed foods and muscle fat infiltration at thigh MRI: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative.” PubMed and RSNA identify it as a study of 615 people drawn from the Osteoarthritis Initiative, a National Institutes of Health-sponsored research program. ### Did the study actually say ultra-processed food caused the MRI to look that way? (rsna.org) The *Radiology* study was cross-sectional, meaning researchers looked at diet and MRI findings at one point in time rather than assigning diets or following a randomized intervention. RSNA said the researchers found that higher ultra-processed food intake was associated with more fat stored inside thigh muscles, even after accounting for calorie or fat intake, physical activity and sociodemographic factors. (pubs.rsna.org) PubMed’s abstract says the study’s purpose was “to assess the relationship” between ultra-processed food consumption and thigh muscle fat infiltration in people at risk for knee osteoarthritis. That wording describes an association study, not proof that one participant’s diet alone caused the appearance of her MRI. (rsna.org) ### What exactly was measured on the MRI? The April 14 RSNA release said the researchers assessed intramuscular fat, also described as muscle fat infiltration, in the thigh using MRI. The release said greater consumption of ultra-processed foods was linked to greater intramuscular thigh fat. CNN reported that Akkaya described the fat as hidden streaks between and within muscle fibers, and said the study also included a 61-year-old woman whose MRI showed less intense marbling and whose diet was about 29% ultra-processed food. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) That comparison appeared in news coverage, but it was still drawn from individual examples inside a larger observational dataset. (rsna.org) ### What did Twitchy leave out? Twitchy’s May 16 item said the MRI looked “exactly like a marbled ribeye steak” and said “the cause was an 87% ultra-processed food diet.” The post did not identify the paper as a cross-sectional study of 615 adults, did not explain that the image was a representative participant from that cohort, and did not provide readers with the study citation in the text shown on the page. (health.yahoo.com) The same Twitchy page also embedded promotional language for Brightcore products and featured comments from Kim Bright of Brightcore. That commercial framing sat alongside the medical claim. ### So what can be said accurately? The accurate version is narrower. A peer-reviewed paper published April 14 in *Radiology* reported that, in 615 adults at risk for knee osteoarthritis, higher ultra-processed food intake was associated with greater fat infiltration in thigh muscle on MRI. (twitchy.com) One representative image in that reporting came from a 62-year-old woman whose diet was 87% ultra-processed food. The next place to check is the *Radiology* paper itself and RSNA’s April 14 release, both of which name Akkaya and describe the study design, participant count and MRI finding. (pubs.rsna.org 1) (pubs.rsna.org 2)