Dietary Guidelines for Americans-Ultra Processed Study

The purpose of this project is to address the current gap in research on ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and cardiometabolic health with a feeding study that addresses the limitations of previously conducted intervention studies in matching UPF- and unprocessed- foods intervention diets for diet quality, nutrient content, and food type. Therefore, the primary objective is to evaluate diets composed primarily of ultra-processed or less processed foods that meet dietary guidelines recommendations on chronic disease risk factors. More specifically, when Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA)-compliant diets comprised of mostly ultra-processed and unprocessed foods (per Nova) are fed to generally healthy participants, determine whether there is an impact on:

• blood pressure
• fasting glucose and insulin concentrations, or
• lipid panel (total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, triglycerides).

Inclusion criteria

• BMI 18.5-34.9 kg/m2
• Systolic <139 mm Hg and Diastolic <90 mm Hg
• Able to understand and sign the consent form
• Have own transportation to the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center
• Not allergic to study foods or unwilling to eat them
• Willing to comply with study demands
• Able to read and understand English

Exclusion criteria

• Taking statins or medication to lower blood pressure,
• Taking anti-inflammatory or anti-diabetes medications
• Pregnant, lactating, or planning to become pregnant
• Diagnosed with an eating disorder
• Taking weight loss medications
• Smoke or use other tobacco products, including e-cigarettes
• Have overt hypothyroidism
• Diagnosed with cancer
• Exercise more than 30 minutes per day 2 or more days per week
• Allergic to study foods
• Express unwillingness to consume study foods at the screening appointment