Does Processed Foods Cause Weight Gain?

Whole foods are those that are taken from their natural state, whether it is plant or animal, and contain all their original nutrients. Processed foods are stripped of some natural nutrients in order to be used within products. Most processed foods contain added preservatives, sugars, sodium, and artificial ingredients. Processed foods include white flour, hot dogs, some cheese products and most packaged snacks. Although many processed foods are enriched with added vitamins, they still don’t provide the quality and quantity of nutrition gained from eating whole foods. Because of these additives: extra sugar, fat and sodium, processed foods may also be a contributor to weight gain.

Scientists from Pomona College in California were recently published a small study with interesting implications for anyone who wants to maintain a healthy weight and eat good food.

The researchers fed people two meals with the exact same number of calories; the only difference was how much the food was processed.

Group A was treated to sandwiches made with real cheese on whole-grain bread; Group B was given sandwiches with processed cheese on fiber-stripped white bread.

The results, published in Food & Nutrition Research, found that the processed meal decreased the rate of diet-induced thermogenesis—the number of calories you burn when eating and digesting—by nearly 50% compared to the meal made with whole foods.

The calories burned from a single sandwich may be small, but this rise in metabolism caused by whole foods (known as the thermic effect) might account for about 10% of a typical person’s daily calorie expenditure. Although more research is needed, early indicators show that whole foods may offer a real metabolic advantage for calorie counters. Whole foods aren’t just better for you because they’re more nutritious, but, essentially, they may be lower-calorie. This means you may lose weight just by incorporating 95% of your daily meals from whole, nutrient dense foods.