{"id":130658,"date":"2024-09-22T15:12:23","date_gmt":"2024-09-22T19:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=130658"},"modified":"2024-09-26T14:18:38","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T18:18:38","slug":"ultra-processed-food-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ultra-processed-food-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Tulleken’s Ultra-Processed Food Addiction Experiment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is ultra-processed food addiction real? What experiment did Dr. van Tulleken perform to prove it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book Ultra-Processed People,<\/em> Dr. Chris van Tulleken experimented on himself to prove how addictive ultra-processed foods are. Not only were UPFs addictive, but they wreaked havoc on multiple different areas of his body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a look at van Tulleken’s experiment and the alarming results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Van Tulleken\u2019s Experiment on Himself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Van Tulleken conducted an experiment on himself to study the effects of ultra-processed foods<\/a> (UPF). He began by eating no UPF for a month, and then for the next month he ate a diet consisting of 80% UPF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Tulleken describes how his primarily UPF diet made him anxious, exhausted, achy, and less productive. At the end of the four weeks, he\u2019d gained 13 pounds.<\/strong> Tests showed that the hormones in his body that are involved in eating weren\u2019t functioning properly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n