Children Who Eat More Ultraprocessed Foods Show Stronger Brain Responses to Appetizing Foods
Researchers found UPF intake explained 31% of the link to BMI gain and 44% of the link to body fat increase.
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(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Joo-young = Does eating a lot of ultra-processed food change the brain's response to food?
Children who eat more ultraprocessed foods show stronger brain responses to appetizing foods
Children who eat more ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) show stronger responses in the brain's reward network when viewing images of appetizing foods—and these brain responses are linked to increases in body fat one year later.
Children who eat more ultra-processed foods show stronger brain responses to appetizing foods
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Ultra-Processed Foods Sensitize Children’s Brain Reward Circuits
Ultra-processed foods may condition developing brains to overeat. A longitudinal fMRI study in JAMA Network Open shows that high UPF intake sensitizes children's dorsal striatum to appetizing food images, directly driving body fat and BMI increases one year later.
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