Developing a Solution to Improve Diet
Ultra-processed foods and my class research project
If you’ve been following along, you may have noticed I’ve taken an interest in the topic of ultra-processed foods as of late. A couple of weeks ago I shared this AI-generated podcast about the consumption of ultra-processed foods in the US, and it was also the topic of the diet section in my last post.
This interest was first spurred by my discovery of this study by Kevin Hall, which I summarized in the diet section of Wrap 17. The gist of the study is that study participants ate more and gained weight when they ate a diet consisting of ultra-processed foods compared to a diet consisting of minimally processed foods. Participants were on both diets for two weeks each and could eat as much as they wanted to. The results are pretty astonishing and I have yet to figure out if there’s some sort of catch I’ve missed. But the study was remarkably well designed.
I also got interested in this topic as a result of listening to Marion Nestle on Doctor Mike’s podcast a few months back. And I had the honor of getting to hear Nestle (pronounced neh-sl) speak in person at the University of Chicago last month. I even got to ask her a question, though it must not have been great, I don’t remember it. I recommend checking out Nestle’s blog, Food Politics. I digress…
So far as I can tell, the consumption of ultra-processed food is a real problem. Not because there's something inherently wrong about foods being ultra-processed, but because these foods tend to be easy to over-consume because they are dense in calories. And they are calorically dense because they tend to contain a lot of fat and sugar. As I’ve written about previously, the US has a metabolic health problem, and, as we all know, an obesity problem. There’s good research suggesting that ultra-processed food consumption has contributed to both increased risk of metabolic syndrome and obesity.
This is all just a preamble to say that I’m on the case…
For my class “Leveraging Sensors and Mobile Technologies for Precision Health Research” taught by Laura McGuinn, I’m writing a research proposal for the development of a diet app focused not on calories but on reducing processed-food consumption. To understand the interests and needs of people who may or may not be interested in using such an app I’ve created a survey. If you could fill out the survey I’d greatly appreciate it. It should only take about 5 minutes to do and it is completely anonymous.
Please fill it out whether or not you are concerned about your diet and regardless of your interest (or lack thereof) in using a diet-tracking app.
That’s all of now. Please like and share this post if you feel so inclined. Thanks!
Disclaimer: This newsletter provides health information and research for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional for guidance on your health-related decisions. I am not a medical professional.
I've usually seen this concept discussed as hyperpalatability (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperpalatable_food).
Even just on an intuitive level, you already know which foods are and aren't hyperpalatable—there's a limit to how much bread you can eat in one sitting, but I think I could hork down two entire family-sized bags of Doritos before my body naturally stopped wanting to eat more.