{
  "id": 12113847,
  "title": "Same calories, different responses: Food processing influences metabolism and brain activity",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/same-calories-different-responses-food-processing-influences",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-05T09:00:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-calories-responses-food-metabolism-brain.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Most nutrition science indicates meals with equivalent nutritional profiles will affect blood sugar similarly. However, researchers investigating the impact of food processing on metabolic responses and brain activity discovered distinct outcomes for minimally and highly processed meals with identical caloric, carbohydrate, fat, protein, water, salt, and weight compositions. The highly processed meals triggered greater insulin release and energy expenditure while utilizing less carbohydrate for fuel. They also elicited divergent responses in the brain region linked to motivation and reward. These findings propose that food processing may impact both bodily and neurological reactions to food beyond just macronutrients, potentially elucidating why ultraprocessed foods contribute to overconsumption and long-term health issues and paving the way for new research directions. Conducted by Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, the study, published in Nature Metabolism on October 5, reveals that ultraprocessed foods constitute over half of the average American's daily caloric intake. Globally, diets are increasingly incorporating more of these convenient, accessible, affordable, and highly palatable foods, leading to higher rates of obesity, cardiac events, type 2 diabetes, and mental health issues among those consuming large quantities. While ultraprocessed foods are known to be high in fat, sugar, and low in fiber and protein, the study aimed to determine if processing itself influences health outcomes and overconsumption. The researchers recruited 57 healthy adults aged 18 to 45, of whom 32 completed both brain imaging and metabolic assessments. Each participant consumed both meal types in separate sessions, conducted at least three days apart to compare individual responses. Metabolic effects were evaluated by having participants fast overnight before consuming either a 300-calorie, minimally or highly processed meal. Within 1% of nutritional content, the highly processed meal consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwich, deli turkey, veggie chips, a cookie, cereal, instant mashed potatoes, and a small amount of water. The minimally processed meal included a sliced banana, dried cranberries, cheese, and egg. After ingestion, blood samples were collected and analyzed for post-meal metabolism, including insulin response, energy expenditure, and carbohydrate oxidation. The findings were surprising, as all metabolic metrics differed significantly between the two meal types. Notably, the ultraprocessed food resulted in a higher insulin response and prolonged elevated blood sugar levels, which increase the risk of diabetes. Additionally, the study revealed that metabolic differences linked to food processing correlate with variations in brain activity response to food cues. Participants who consumed ultraprocessed foods showed less willingness to pay for the same foods during functional MRI sessions, indicating that metabolic effects from processing impact brain responses to food.",
  "summary": "Most nutrition science suggests that meals with the same basic nutritional profile will have the same impact on a person's blood sugar.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}