On the ultraprocessed diet, the subjects on average consumed 500 more calories a day and gained two pounds. One charge leveled against Hall’s study, for example: It was too short to observe metabolic and behavioral changes that often take place more than two weeks after a new diet is started. Yet it’s impossible to say whether a diet that works in the lab will succeed unless you can study it in real life. Eventually, researchers hope, that sort of information will allow clinicians or even a smartphone app to create a personalized diet. “With really broad strokes we could improve our health by making modifications to our diet that everyone could make.” So why haven’t we?

Source: New York Times October 24, 2019 11:03 UTC