Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to Brain Changes That Drive Overeating

Junk food may rewrite your brain’s hunger controls, study of 30,000 people finds.

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Ultra-processed foods (UPF) may be rewiring your brain to make you overeat, according to research that involved examining brain scans from nearly 30,000 middle-aged adults and found structural changes in regions that control hunger and food cravings.

“We present evidence that eating UPFs increases several nutrient and metabolic markers of disease and is associated with structural brain changes in areas that regulate eating behavior,” the study authors wrote.

Key Brain Changes Identified

The research, recently published in Nature, found that people who consumed more UPFs showed measurable differences in brain areas involved in feeding behavior, emotion, and motivation.