What happens when diet targets super-emotional foods?

Most dietary plans are designed to help people achieve weight loss or adhere to U.S. nutrition guidelines, and no mention of SuperSystem Foods (UPFS). UPF (such as fries or candies) is a mass-produced packaged product with little to no naturally occurring food. UPF consumption is closely related to increased disease risk and early death.

As there are few existing programs dedicated to reducing UPF intake, researchers from Drexel University’s School of Arts and Sciences have designed an intervention that includes various strategies to target unique problems of UPF, including designing it into A strategy for human addiction. In addition to providing education about UPFS, the program integrates mindfulness and acceptance-based strategies to help participants cope with desires; one-on-one meal fees; focus on improving the family food environment through family members involved in the intervention; and Financial support to help participants buy healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables that may be more expensive.

Recently published Obesity and scientific practicethe researchers intervened in 14 adults for a two-month period, who regularly took UPFS (two UPF programs per day). On average, participants successfully reduced UPF intake by almost half.

“Reducing UPF intake can be very difficult because the food industry wants us to be obsessed with UPFS,” said Dr. Charlotte Hagerman, assistant research professor at the college. “The industry designs UPFS to be very delicious,” he said. Convenient, cheap and constantly present in the United States – even if not directly in front of us, then on our TV, phone and roadside signs.”

Hagman noted that despite the small sample, the results of this intervention were very promising. By the end of the program, participants reduced their UPF intake by almost half – both measured in UPFS’s calories and in total UPFS. Participants also reduced their calorie intake, reducing their average of 600 calories per day. In addition, sugar consumption decreased by 50%, saturated fat consumption decreased by 37%, and sodium consumption decreased by 28%. Participants also reported an average weight of 7.7 pounds.

“It’s interesting that there was no meaningful increase in the consumption of fruit and vegetable in participants, suggesting that if we want to improve our dietary intake more comprehensively, we may need to be more encouraged to eat these foods,” Hagerman said.

The research team stressed that participants had high positive feedback on the intervention and were enthusiastic about the benefits they noticed. During the interview, many people reported that their mood and energy had improved.

During the two-month intervention, the 14 participants worked with coaches who conducted health behavior change expertise in weekly group meetings, including one-on-one meetings, discussions and events. Participants were educated on identifying UPFS and its harmful effects, learned acceptance-based strategies to cope with desire and withdraw cravings to reduce UPF, and understood the importance of the home food environment in reducing UPF intake. Participants also held separate meal courses and financial support in the form of a $100 grocery gift card.

To assess their dietary intake, participants completed an automated self-managed 24-hour dietary assessment tool (ASA-24), asking participants to report everything they had eaten in the past 24 hours. Before and after the intervention, participants reported all their foods during two working days and one weekend (because dietary behavior tends to differ over the weekend). The assessment tool automatically reports specific food groups (such as fruit), macronutrient intake, and calorie intake to help teams and participants determine consumption patterns.

Members of the research team classified each entry as UPF or not, and consulted the UPF experts on ambiguity cases. The researchers did not know whether each entry was from before or after the intervention, in order not to bias its encoding.

The data allowed the team to determine if there were significant changes in the participants’ UPF intake, sodium, added sugar, saturated fat, weight, and fruit/vegetable intake.

“The results show that if appropriate tools are given, people can reduce their hyperprocessed food intake and they will be enthusiastic about the interventions designed for this purpose,” Hagerman said. “The results also show that reducing UPF intake is reduced,” he said. Will lead to meaningful health improvements in just eight weeks, such as weight loss and a better mood.”

The research team plans to continue testing interventions – on a larger sample, test the efficacy of specific components of the intervention and tests for different populations.

The complete study can be read here: