Ultra‑processed foods trial
A trial published in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases found that restricting ultra‑processed foods helps obesity management when overall energy intake is controlled. (x.com) The study reinforces that lowering ultra‑processed items during a calorie‑restricted plan improved outcomes in the trial setting. (x.com)
The paper appears in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases (2025) under DOI 10.1016/j.numecd.2025.104426 and lists Mateus L. Macena as first author affiliated with Universidade Federal de São Paulo. (sciencedirect.com) The trial was a randomized, parallel, unblinded clinical study with two arms and a planned 12‑month follow‑up period. (repositorio.unifesp.br) Participants were randomized to a generic energy‑restriction arm (ER‑G) or an energy‑restriction plus ultra‑processed food restriction arm (ER‑UPF), with the ER‑UPF target protocol specifying UPFs be limited to about 5% of total intake. (pubs.rsc.org) Investigators collected metabolic and anthropometric measures and, for a pre‑specified microbiota subanalysis, obtained stool samples at baseline and at six months for 16S rRNA sequencing. (pubs.rsc.org) Independent summaries of the trial report it ran for 12 months with roughly 148 adults with obesity and that baseline ultra‑processed food contributed about 21–24% of participants’ calories. (examine.com) The NMCD article page includes supplementary files on the journal site and the trial protocol and methods are also described in the lead author’s UNIFESP doctoral thesis (May 2025). (nmcd-journal.com)
