Eating minimally processed meals doubles weight loss even when ultraprocessed foods are healthy, study finds

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN

(CNN) — People in the United Kingdom lost twice as much weight eating meals typically made at home than they did when eating store-bought ultraprocessed food considered healthy , the latest research has found.

“This new study shows that even when an ultraprocessed diet meets nutritional guidelines, people will still lose more weight eating a minimally processed diet,” said coauthor Dr. Kevin Hall, a former senior investigator at the US National Institutes of Health who has conducted some of the world’s only controlled clinical trials on ultraprocessed foods.

“This (study) is the largest and longest randomized controlled clinical trial of ultraprocessed foods to date,” Hall added.

Hall’s past research sequestered healthy volunteers from the world for a mont