Research findings from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the University of Kansas have offered insight regarding the food someone should take as part of their weight loss journey in 2023.
Hyper-palatable foods contribute to high caloric intake
Using data from prior studies, researchers tried to identify which aspects of meals were crucial for determining the number of calories consumed. They discovered that three meal elements—meal energy density, the quantity of “hyper-palatable” foods, and how rapidly the meals were consumed—consistently contributed to higher calorie intake throughout four different dietary habits. The foods’ protein composition also correlated to calorie consumption, but its impact was less consistent.
Hyper-palatable foods—think potato chips—have particular ratios of fat, sugar, salt, and carbs that artificially increase the satisfaction of eating them and make it difficult to stop eating them. KU scientist Tera Fazzino first introduced this concept in 2019.
Fazzino, an assistant professor and director at Cofrin Logan Center for addiction Research and Treatment in the KU Department of Psychology, said they wanted to know how foods’ hyper-palatable characteristics combined with other factors influenced the calories someone took.
The researchers published in Nature Food journal that four different dietary patterns, including low-fat, low-carb, unprocessed or diet-based foods and a diet based on ultra-processed foods, increased energy consumption because of their hyper-palatability.
Some people eat few calories without feeling hungry
Learning how some meals cause people to eat fewer calories without feeling hungry could help guide diet advice for weight maintenance. For example, energy-dense meals that can cause passive overeating, like cheese or cookies, are frequently suggested to be avoided by consumers. Instead, low-energy density meals like spinach, apples, and carrots are frequently suggested. Nonetheless, people can be eating hyper-palatable items unwittingly because they are less familiar with them.
The new study contends that while highly delicious meals can occasionally be high in energy, they also contribute to meal calorie consumption. These findings add to the growing research showing that hyper-palatability is instrumental in people’s choices regarding weight management.
