ABSTRACT
Objective
Higher intake of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) is associated with obesity. We examined whether replacing UPFs (NOVA 4) with minimally processed foods and culinary ingredients (NOVA 1 + 2) was associated with differential weight change in this secondary prospective analysis of the Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies (POUNDS) Lost trial.
Methods
We estimated percent energy intake (%kcal) from the four NOVA groups using 24-h dietary recalls in a subset of 356 participants. Multivariable-adjusted sub- stitution models examined whether replacing %kcal from UPFs with NOVA 1 + 2 was associated with greater weight, body fat percentage, trunk fat, and waist circum- ference reduction at 6 months; changes in parameters were compared among NOVA 1 + 2 tertiles (T).
Results
Participants were on average 52.3 years of age, 85% White, 55% female, and 58.2% nonsmoking, with a mean BMI of 32.7 kg/m2. Replacing 10%kcal of UPFs with NOVA 1 + 2 was associated with greater 6-month weight (ß = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.93 to 0.09, p = 0.02), body fat percentage (ß = 2.7, 95% CI: 5.10 to 0.43, p = 0.02), and trunk fat reduction (ß = 3.9, 95% CI: 7.01 to 0.70, p = 0.02), but not waist circumference reduction. Participants in T3 (8.33kg) versus T1 (5.32 kg) of NOVA 1 + 2 had greater weight loss (p < 0.001).
Conclusions
Isocaloric substitution of UPFs with NOVA 1 + 2 was associated with marginally greater weight loss under energy restriction. These modest findings sup- port more research exploring the mechanisms linking UPFs with body weight regula- tion beyond energy intake.